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ENGLISH LIFE 



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ENGLISH LIFE 



BY 




T. C. CRAWFORD 



NEW YORK 

FRANK F. LOVELL & COMPANY 

142 and 144 Worth Street 



<t^ 



N0X9NIHSVM 

staiONoo jo 



Copyright, 1S89, 
By John W. Lovell, 



PREFACE. 



This book represents selections from letters written by 
me from London to the New York "World," during- a resi- 
dence in England of nearly two years. The majority of 
the letters so selected are merely the record of first im- 
pressions. Naturally, some of these impressions changed 
during my stay in England, but I have thought it best to 
leave what I have written without alteration. I have 
confined myself generally to the features of actual Eng- 
lish life, and as what is given in the record of what I have 
myself seen, the many readers of "The World," who 
have professed pleasure in reading these letters, may be 
glad to see the best of them in a permanent form. 

T. C. C. 
New Y/obk, Dec. lbth, 1SSS. 



CONTENTS. 



PART I.— LONDON. 

CHAPTER I. 

PAGE. 

The Streets. — Differences noted by an American in a first visit to the Capital of 
the World. — The much abused climate defended. — Cost of living compared. — 
The real truth about the fogs 7 

CHAPTER II. 

The Derby Day as it is. — An accurate description of London's greatest sporting 
event 14 

CHAPTER IH. 

A glance at the fashionable Ascot meeting.— Its lack of interest for a foreigner 2S 

CHAPTER IV. 

A Prince of Wales' Levee. — A complete story of a presentation at St. James' Palace. 
— Notabilities present. — The reception contrasted with a White House Levee. 
— The reception of ladies by the Queen 31 

CHAPTER V. 

The House of Commons compared with our House of Representatives. — The 

House of Lords and the families thereof 46 

PART II.— ROYALTY. 

CHAPTER I. 

The Queen. — Study of her daily life from information given by her intimates. — Her 
timidity and physical weakness. —Analysis of her character.— Her method of 
summoning guests by telegraph messages. — Her wealth. — Personal anecdotes 
and sketches. — The Princess of Wales 62 

CHAPTER II. 

Notes concerning the Queen from personal observation 70 

CHAPTER III. 

A pen picture of the Prince of Wales. — An analysis of his character and a correct 

estimate of his individuality 77 

CHAPTER IV. 
Personal observations of the royalties who visited London last year "7 

PART III.— THE ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS. 

CHAPTER I. 

The great London Dailies. — Their peculiar features. — Society Journals. — English 

and American methods contrasted. — The Press Club 95 

CHAPTER II. 
A visit to the office of the Times newspaper 1 1 1 



4 CONTEX TS. 

CHAPTER III. PAGE . 
The office of the Daily Telegraph ,r 7 

PART IV.— MISCELLANEOUS. 

CHAPTER I. 

Amusements.— The theatres contrasted. — The bar-maids and their peculiarities. — 

The music halls and their patrons ]20 

CHAPTER II. 

The Special Train of the Prime Minister. — Free passes for high officials. — Speed of 
English trains ,25 

CHAPTER III. 
A visit to Cardinal Manning 128 

CHAPTER IV. 

The English postal system, and the London police methods.— English administration 
of Justice I3I 

CHAPTER V. 
The Prince of Wales' at a Smoking Concert 139 

CHAPTER VI. 

The superior position occupied by colored people in England with illustrations 143 



CHAPTER VII. 



The English soldier and feats of skill shown by " Tommy Atkins."— Daring horse- 
manship 147 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Americans in Europe. — How lives are wasted. — Our insane abroad. — The American 

club. — Americans well received. — Foolish Americans seeking work in Europe.. 150 



PART V. —ENGLISH COUNTRY. 

CHAPTER I. 



The four great holidays. — The free, picturesque, open-air life on the Thames in the 

Summer 161 



CHAPTER II. ■•■ 

The charm of English rural life. — Stoke Pogis the gem of the country. — The 

quaint village of Warwick 165 

CHAPTER III. 

Tunbridge Wells and its delights. — The disappointment over Stratford-on-Avon 171 



CHAPTER IV. 

Christmas Day in the country. — On the Sands at Bournemouth. 



CHAPTER V. 

A glance at the life of Oxford. — Cost of living at this famous university. — American 



,S 5 



ENGLISH LIFE 



CHAPTER I. 
LONDON. 

THE STREETS. DIFFERENCES NOTED BY AN AMERICAN IN A FIRST 

VISIT TO THE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD. THE MUCH ABUSED 

CLIMATE. COST OF LIVING COMPARED. THE REAL TRUTH 

ABOUT THE FOGS. 

At first the streets of London do not present such a 
strange appearance to the American accustomed to life in 
the larger cities of the United States. There are plenty of 
places in London not unlike corners or streets in Boston 
or New York, while in the more desolate and uninterest- 
ing parts of acres of monotonous jail-like looking houses 
certain sections of Philadelphia are suggested. The peo- 
ple who throng the streets do not look so very much dif- 
ferent from the inhabitants of our Eastern cities. The 
least observing Englishman never has any difficulty in 
telling an American as far as he can see him, but I must 
confess I cannot distinguish with any readiness, unless 
the type is marked, between the two nationalities until I 
hear them talk. As one comes more and more in con- 
tact with the daily life, the points of difference become 
more and more sharply defined. The first thing that 
strikes the American's notice most prominently is the em- 
ployment of women in so many of the public places, 
where only men are employed with us. The person who 
dispenses drinks in the London drinking places is almost 
invariably a sharp-featured, stony-faced, business-looking 



8 ENGLISH LIFE. 

woman. They are very direct and expeditious. You 
find them at all of the hotels. Instead of being confronted 
with a smiling, diamond-ornamented American clerk, 
you meet a sad-faced, dismal, dejected-looking young 
woman, who, in a whisper, asks you to register, and 
who assigns you a room, then shuts up under a mantle of 
reserve and withdraws to the interior of the office. No 
information is ever volunteered at any English hotel. The 
rooms at the hotels as a general thing are uncomfortable 
for Americans, because they are rarely if ever heated. The 
system of heating is by open grates. This would be well 
enough if the grates were of any size or had any capacity. 
The average grate in a London hotel room is about the 
size of a two-quart basket and it is always expected to heat 
a room 14 by 16 on an average. The extreme dampness 
of the atmosphere comes in all around the room, so that 
comfort can be maintained only by hovering right over the 
grate itself. It must be that these rooms are uncomfort- 
able for the natives themselves. You hear them protest 
against the American system of overheating houses. 
Yet in every hotel of any standing there is always a 
large, comfortable smoking-room for gentlemen and a 
large lounging room for ladies. These rooms are always 
well heated, and it is a significant fact that they are always 
crowded. The guests of the hotel spend very little time 
in their rooms. The smoking-room in English hotels 
could be copied with advantage in the United States. 
There is nothing more dreary in the world than the 
reading-room or gentleman's waiting room of American 
hotels. In the English hotels the smoking-room is fur- 
nished with heavy leather-covered chairs and sofas, with 
small tables scattered about. Here any one can order 
anything he pleases to drink, or come in after his dinner 
for his cup of coffee with his cigar. It is always a cozy 
and comfortable place, and, indeed, almost the only com- 
fortable place in the hotel. 

Within certain limits there is more freedom in England 
than perhaps in any other country in the world. But once 
you are outside of those limits the restrictions are greater 
than anywhere else, except Russia. The authorities of 
London appear to be largely content with keeping the 
streets absolutely clean. The pavements are a marvel of 
solidity and excellence. They are kept perfectly clean in 



ENGLISH LIFE. 9 

the most remote and poorer quarters by a perfect system 
of street-sweeping. 

It is the public sentiment of London that keeps its streets 
so clean. In the lowest quarter of London the streets are 
as clean as in the best quarters of New York. They have 
tried every variety of experiment here in the direction of 
pavements and have settled down to asphalt and wooden 
blocks. It has been said in the United States that the as- 
phalt streets would not stand in the heavy traffic of New 
York, but they do stand in London where the traffic is 
even heavier. The wooden-block pavements, which 
were such a failure in Washington when they were put 
down by Governor Shepherd, are a great success here. 
The material used for the surface is the same, but the 
English contractors are made to put down a solid rock 
and tar basis. Wood with this basis becomes as solid as 
stone while it retains elasticity. They have a Board of 
Public Works here which sends out inspectors to see that 
contractors and builders do their work honestly. 

It is a popular idea in the United States that living in 
London is much cheaper than with us. It may be that 
there are some places in London where you can live more 
cheaply than in a corresponding situation in New 
York. But it must be somewhere out in the remote sub- 
urbs. Clothing is very much cheaper, and everything re- 
lating to furniture, and some of the better class of manu- 
factures can be bought here for a much less price. But 
the actual cost of living is very much higher. Rents are 
nearly as high. Taxes are higher, and the cost of main- 
taining an establishment is very much higher. The pay 
of servants may be less, but you have to have more of 
them. It is also true that the cab fares in London are less 
than they are in New York, but the distances are so great 
that the expense of going about is more than made up by 
the greater necessity of employing the cabs. The hotels 
are more expensive than with us, and do not begin to 
give the same accommodations. The smaller the hotel 
the higher the prices. In the first place, there is not a 
small hotel in London that does not charge as much for 
its rooms as any of the fashionable European plan hotels 
on Broadway. The restaurant charges will average much 
higher, while the fees for attendance and the like make up 
a bill which is far outside of the charge of the first-class 



I0 ENGLISH LIFE. 

hotels in New York. The guide books recommend tour- 
ists to call for their bills every two or three days. It 
would be better to go beyond this and pay your bill every 
day, because where a bill is allowed to run on it is apt to 
be added to in a way that is wholly unexplainable and 
not at all comforting, even to those who have long purses. 

The hotels and lodging-houses of London are for 
strangers. No Englishman of position will live in a hotel 
or a lodging-house if he is married. Keeping house is re- 
garded as a matter of course. This, for a person who 
has a family, is perhaps the most economical way to live 
if you are going to spend a year or so in London. The 
restaurants do not compare with the New York restaurants 
in the quality or variety of their food. The only thing 
that I have seen which is better in the English restaurants 
is the mutton chops. The mutton chop with us is greasy 
and coarse. The English mutton chop is sweeter and 
more delicate than our lamb chop. The English bread is 
abominable. You will hardly find a good piece of bread 
in any of the restaurants of London unless you give a 
special order for a special dinner. The regular English 
bread is always very heavy or dry, and hard and stale. 
Their so-called French breads are almost tasteless. The 
best breads are the Vienna rolls, but even these are un- 
salted. The butter in all of the restaurants strikes the 
American palate at once as a kind of fiat ointment. It is 
never salted, and for a time, until one becomes accustomed 
to the freshness, does not taste at all like butter. The 
roast beef of England will not compare with our roast 
beef. The fact that there is no good coffee served at any 
of the public restaurants in England is so well known as 
not to need special mention. 

The common way of dining at the public restaurants is 
from the joint. A dinner from the joint is served in a 
great many of the good restaurants, costing from about 
eighty cents to a dollar and a half in our money for each 
order. A dinner served from the joint consists of, in the 
first place, a liberal allowance of roast meat. This is in 
some restaurants brought up on a little table wheeled 
alongside of yours and sliced off in your presence. With 
this is given boiled potatoes and some other coarse vege- 
table, sometimes greens and sometimes Brussels sprouts. 
The general range of vegetables appears to be confined to 



ENGLISH LIFE. , , 

Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and kale. The dessert 
served with the joint dinner is a lettuce salad and all you 
care to slice off of a Stilton or Cheddar cheese. These din- 
ners are very coarse and hearty, and are just the thing for 
a man taking- a great amount of exercise. But there is 
nothing delicate about them. 

There are a number of French restaurants in London, but 
they serve strictly French meals. The best restaurants to 
please the American taste are those kept by Italians. 

The climate of England is very trying to American 
visitors at first. It is never as cold in reality as in Amer- 
ica, but the dampness of the climate makes the cold much 
more trying. Instead of registering the condition of the 
atmosphere by the zero gauge as with us, the English 
speak of the condition of the atmosphere as being above 
or below thirty-two degrees. Degrees of frost are below 
this point. It is very rare that there is a record below six 
degrees of frost or twenty-six of our thermometer. Yet 
people will come to England from the climate of our coun- 
try, where the average temperature for months is in the 
neighborhood of zero and below, and suffer with the cold 
in England in a temperature of from twenty-eight to thir- 
ty-five degrees above zero. After a time this sensitive- 
ness to the damp climate wears off. The English climate 
greatly as it has been abused, is a splendid working cli- 
mate. The atmosphere is full of life. It is specially suit- 
able to nervous people who have become worn out with 
over work. The summers are especially agreeable to 
Americans. There is no day in an English summer 
which approaches even in a remote degree to the swelter- 
ing heat of the July and August days of our Northern 
cities. 

I have often heard American visitors in London say 
that they wished they could experience a real London fog. 
Most people who come here are very much disappointed 
if they do not at once meet with all the experiences com- 
mon to London life. London is greatly celebrated for its 
fogs. I was here last spring during the stormy months 
of March and April, and during that time I thought that 
the atmosphere became thick enough to be considered 
foggy, but I was told there was no real fog during that 
time. The month which has just passed, November, is 
the month of the worst fogs. Fortunate American vis- 



I 2 ENGLISH LIFE. 

itors in London at this time have been able to see what 
a real London fog is. The fog, made up of smoke, cloud 
and gloom, which has swept down upon London two or 
three times during the past month, certainly could not be 
matched in any other city of the world. What is known 
as black fog generally follows a sharp hoar frost. Intense 
cold is the basis of the fogs. The air becomes in the 
first place excessively damp and then there sweeps 
down upon the town a great cloud, mingling with the 
sooty smoke until it chokes the streets, enters houses, 
attacks the throat and eyes, and in some cases causes a 
suspension of traffic entirely in the streets. 

The fogs of the present winter have been very peculiar. 
They would begin black and then they would change to 
light. The sun every now and then would seek to break 
through the cold mass of fog, soot and grime, but it never 
succeeded. The wind alone is able to carry off the fog, 
but the yellow light of the sun shimmering through the 
fog, produces at times strange effects. The town would 
seem to be standing in some sort of floating mixture, and 
then the sun would disappear and the fog would change 
almost as soon as it could be told, into a black, cold, 
dense mass of solid cloud and smoke. Twice during the 
month this black fog became so dense, so dark, and so 
thick, that you could not see a foot beyond you in look- 
ing out of the window. Of course, gas would be lighted 
all over the town. Out in the streets you could not see 
half-way across, and great care had to be exercised in 
going about. In the direction of the underground rail- 
road the fog was the thickest and at the worst. In addi- 
tion to the darkness and inconvenience of not being able 
to see where you are going, having to exercise extraor- 
dinary precautions against being run over, there was also 
a constant choking feeling, occasioned by the difficulty 
in breathing the horrible atmosphere of soot and smoke. 
More than this, the intense cold and the excessive damp- 
ness were harder to endure than the cold in the most 
northerly countries. The touch of the fog was like ice. 
Its dampness and its cold penetrated to the very marrow 
of one's bones. It was almost impossible to heat the 
rooms or house when the icy breath of the fog was com- 
ing in at every opening. Unless a house were kept tightly 
closed against the invading gloom it became filled and 



ENGLISH LIFE. ,3 

choked. The sensation of oppression from the presence 
of the fog in the town was something that could only be 
overcome by those who have strong health and great 
vital resources. Every time a black fog visits London, it 
means death to a number of old and delicate people. It 
is particularly fatal to infants and to people with lung or 
throat troubles. People with a tendency to lung or throat 
troubles cannot live in London in the winter without hav- 
ing their maladies greatly aggravated. But there is this 
much to be said about even this fog infection : It does 
not endure very long at a time. It is rare for a fog of the 
intensely disagreeable character mentioned to last more 
than six or eight hours. The longest fog on record is the 
celebrated fog of eight or ten years ago. This fog con- 
tinued for thirty-six hours. It was so black and so dark 
that people could not see more than two feet beyond them. 
Traffic during that thirty-six hours was entirely suspended. 
The great business of London was brought to a stand- 
still and kept in check by this black and most merciless 
fog. Few people ventured out of doors, and the police 
on their beats with difficulty were able to find their accus- 
tomed points to guard and visit. During the thirty-six 
hours that this celebrated fog continued, there was not a 
breath of air stirring. The moment that the wind begins 
to blow the fog shifts and the worst is soon over. 

If the city of London would adopt some modern sys- 
tem of heating houses, undoubtedly the fogs would never 
become so severe and so thick. Millions are wasted in 
the sooty open fireplaces of London. The smoke con- 
sumers adopted by Parliament are practically of no use, 
for the people refuse to put them on their chimneys in 
spite of the act of Parliament. Coal is burned in every 
house in a most tremendously wasteful way. The greater 
part of the coal burned in London, instead of heating the 
houses, simply becomes waste soot and is belched forth 
to become part of the poisonous atmosphere which en- 
shrouds and hangs over London during the cold winter 
months. 

But the evil effects of the fogs have been greatly exag- 
gerated. They come only once in a while and except in 
historical exceptions do not remain for more than twenty 
four hours at a time. Often a dense fog in the morning 
will pass away early in the afternoon. During this present 



I 4 ENGLISH LIFE. 

winter which is now just nearly passed there have been 
only two or three great fogs. The one great fog of the 
centuryendured for nearly five days. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE DERBY DAY AS IT IS. 

AN ACCURATE PHOTOGRAPH OF THE INCIDENTS OF LONDON'S 
GREATEST SPORTING EVENT. 

There is no racing event in England which is so inter- 
esting to Americans as the Derby. Every American who 
comes to England regards going to see the Derby as one of 
the things he must do, if his visit to England is not wholly 
in vain. It is classed with seeing the leading people and 
the prominent sights of London. Its pleasures are greatly 
exaggerated. The Americans who go to the labor 
and expense of witnessing this outdoor spectacle, I am 
afraid, are inclined to exaggerate on their return to their 
native land ; for I have never heard any one of my country- 
men who have visited Epsom Downs on Derby Day tell 
the story which would give a stranger a correct idea of 
that day and of its events. The tendency is always to ex- 
aggerate and overdraw. We certainly have nothing like 
the Derby on any of the race-courses of the United States ; 
and for lovers of real sport is perhaps as well that we 
have not. The racing is the very smallest feature of the 
Derby day. 

For any one who is fond of this, but little pleasure 
would be found in the Derby event. It is really an over- 
grown picnic ; it is a day of holiday-making, and the 
scenes on Epsom Downs are those which are to be found 
at any great country fair in England on a pleasant day, 
multiplied many times over on the great stretch of rolling 
land where this meet takes place. But in spite of the 
multiplication of the attractions and the diversity of the 
crowd, there is still a sameness running throughout all 
these features. It resembles, to a casual stranger, who 



EN G Lis 1 1 LIFE. 



• : 



walks about from one end of the great stretch to the other, 
a succession of country fairs, if you please, with the racing 
element occasionally coming to the surface as a feature. 
Derby Day is one of the great popular holidays of Eng- 
land. It is not a legal holiday, but common consent has 
made so much of a holiday of it that it practically amounts 
to the same thing. 

The Epsom Downs are distant from London some 
twenty miles. There are many ways of getting to this 
ground from London. The trains carry great crowds. 
Every kind of vehicle is brought into play on this day to 
carry people down who prefer to drive over the magnifi- 
cent country roads between London and Epsom. The 
expense of attending a race meet in England is much 
larger than for a similar event with us. The prices of 
admission to the paddocks, the grand stand, and the 
various points of advantage throughout the grounds are 
higher than on our racing tracks. The cost of transport- 
tation is also higher. English railway charges for short 
or long distance are much higher than with us, and the 
companies make but little reductions on the day of racing 
events. All kinds of wagons that can be employed for 
carrying passengers to the Derby are rented out at exor- 
bitant rates on that day. The favorite method of going 
to the Derby employed by Americans is to go on a drag 
or a high coach drawn by four horses. These coaches 
are rented for the day at for from fifteen to twenty guineas. 
There are incidental charges connected with the drive 
which bring the cost up to twenty-five and sometimes 
thirty guineas, which will include lunch, the pay of the 
men, the fees of the servants and the fees at the grounds. 
Three guineas are charged for the admission of the drag 
to the space in front of the grand stand and next to the 
course. Hansoms are rented on this day to go t<> Epsom 
and back from £ i up. It will cost any single individual 
from $15 to $20 to visit the Derby by way of the country 
roads and take in its sights. This is the minimum cost. 
Of course if one bets, or yields to the thousand and one 
importunities on the grounds to spend money, he can 
make the day at the Derby cost him anything he likes. 
The average American with money who goes down to the 
Derby spends from $100 to $200. 

The Americans are not the only people who go to the 



1 6 ENGLISH LIFE. 

Derby on the top of a drag. It is a favorite method also 
with the English who have plenty of money to spend. 
Those who go down to Epsom for the racing of course 
prefer the grand stand. There they have some chance of 
seeing the horses. But I come back to my original the- 
ory concerning the Derby. People go to it as they would 
go to a picnic. It is a day for an outdoor lark. It is one 
long round of stuffing and drinking from first to last, com- 
bined with the rural fair features, as I have mentioned 
above. 

I went down to the Derby on top of a drag in the Amer- 
ican style, with the star-spangled banner waving over 
the top seat of this very high vehicle. The start was 
made at 10 o'clock. The road was through West Ken- 
sington and Wimbledon over a perfect road from begin- 
ning to end. The day was raw and an east wind was 
blowing. The clouds obscured the sun all day. The 
sun shines only on six days in the year in England, and 
this was not one of the six days. But it did not rain, and 
for that fact every one was thankful. It is hard to re- 
alize in any place in the United States so late in May the 
intense cold of this Derby day. The season was' sup- 
posed to be on the verge of the full bloom of an English 
summer, and yet the heaviest blanket coats and rugs were 
necessary for one's comfort. The English country at this 
present time is a perfect garden of beauty. It does not 
seem possible that there has been enough warmth or sun 
during this so-called spring to develop the rich and beau- 
tiful green of the hedges, the great stretches of emerald 
color over the meadows, the luxuriant growths of the clo- 
ver fields, and the brilliant hues of the deep, dense wood- 
lands. The depth and richness of the greens of the Eng- 
lish landscape will always strike the American eye. 
This depth of color comes from the moisture of the at- 
mosphere. 

From the very start there were rows upon rows of peo- 
ple, ranging from the outskirts of London down to Epsom 
itself, waiting by the roadside for the spectacle of the mov- 
ing hosts marching on to the Downs. These people re- 
mained along the line of this road all during the day en- 
joying hugely the coming and waiting patiently for the 
return. The children were the most vociferous. From 
behind nearly every hedgerow and corner there would 



ENGLISH LIFE. , - 

come the most hilarious shouts from bands of apple- 
cheeked British youngsters, who, with yells of good cheer, 
pelted every passer-by with flowers, expecting a return 
fire of coppers. The cat-o'-the-wheel boys, as they are 
called — that is to say, small boys who revolve on their 
hands along the roadside after the fashion of a wheel — 
also expect pennies. The visitor to the Derby who u ishes 
to go through the day without loss of his peace of mind 
should take along at least a peck measure full of British 
copper coin. English lads hang around and call for pen- 
nies in a very bluff and matter-of-fact way. They sing 
" Chuck out your rolling coppers.'' A gentleman on the 
coach with me called attention to the fact that the Scotch 
boys have altogether a differcntcry, which he said was in 
his mind significant of the difference between the English 
and Scotch character. The Scotch boys call "Poor oot" 
(pour out), upon the theory that a Scotchman wants every- 
thing which you have for nothing. 

I do not propose to give in detail an exact sketch of this 
ride, the number of hedgerows and all the various quaint 
public inns and the character of each group passed. That 
would require a volume. I shall merely allude to some 
of the features of the ride as it struck my eye as a stranger. 
I was particularly impressed, in the first place, with the 
capacity for drinking of the wandering, waiting crowds. 
Every public inn from the outset of the journey was 
crowded. I noticed that upon the wagons the drinking 
and the lunching began at even the early hour of 10 o'clock, 
when the shadow of breakfast could not have been far 
distant. This lunching and drinking continued appar- 
ently without cessation during the day, and on the way 
home the lunching and the drinking were still going on 
with an energy and thoroughness which indicated very 
hard heads and very matter-of-fact stomachs, at hast upon 
the part of the lunchers and drinkers. Now and then a 
man would fall out of the ranks and drop upon th< 
by the roadside, lie was regarded with that respectful 
consideration which is paid to the veteran who falls light- 
ing with his face towards the enemy. The pedestrians 
walked carefully round him, and no one presumed for a 
moment, — not even the blue-coated policeman — to disturb 
the dreams of the sweet sleepers along this variegated 
road to Epsom. Going out, these fallen veterans were 

2 



1 8 ENGLISH LIFE. 

occasionally met with, but in coming back they were to 
be found in great numbers all along the road, and partic- 
ularly in the neighborhood of some public inn — the Royal 
George, the Prince of Wales, or the Hare and the Fox, or 
the Dog and the Partridge — which lined the way. Another 
feature of this day which I noticed was in marked con- 
trast to any such day with us — the drinking of the women. 
In nearly every public inn there were nearly as many 
women as there were men. They were not women of 
the class who would be seen drinking in public with us. 
Nearly all of them belonged to what is called here the 
lower working class, that is to say, the families of un- 
skilled laborers. These also comprised the costermonger, 
the green-grocer and the petty tradesman class. Nearly 
all these people owned either small ponies or donkeys. 
The endurance of these small beasts was something 
phenomenal. Most of the donkeys are about the size of 
a good Newfoundland dog. You would see some forlorn, 
undersized donkey or dwarfed pony harnessed up to a 
green-grocer's rack wagon, which is a simple frame for 
carrying vegetables on two wheels, and on this frame 
you would often see four or five full-grown men. The 
wretched little donkey would trot along contentedly, 
and would show no signs of being engaged in any unusual 
labor, although he would be expected to go with this load 
twenty miles and return, dragging a weight which the 
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals with us 
would regard as a great load for any one horse, however 
strong and powerful. Of course the perfection of the 
roads alone made it possible for the little donkeys and 
small ponies to drag their heavy loads. The women 
drank with the men, and appeared to have the same 
royal privilege of getting drunk without attracting the 
slightest notice or criticism. This privilege of becoming 
uproariously drunk appears to be one of the great feat- 
ures of an English holiday. 

The wandering minstrels who torture the ears of the 
public with wretched apologies for musical instruments 
swarmed along through this moving mass of pedestrians 
and vehicles, catching with great alertness at the slightest 
suggestion of any one of the coaching parties, to whom 
they paid the greatest attention. The coaching parties 
are the ones who are supposed to have the money, and 



ENGLISH LIFE. , 9 

naturally all the wandering- crowd of merchant-. ' 
street fakirs and the like pursued the coaches as they did 
none of the other vehicles. The appearance of our coach 
carrying the American flag, was always the signal lor the 
minstrels to strike up "Yankee Doodle" or some national 
air which would at once unloosen the rolling coppers of 
the sentimentally patriotic Americans. The susceptible 
patriotism of the American abroad is thoroughly un- 
derstood by the army of street highwaymen who lie in 
wait for opportunities of assaulting the pocketbooks of the 
passers-by. 

The police arrangements for this day are admirable. 
Notwithstanding the enormous number of vehicles turned 
out on the road on this day, there was very rarely a col- 
lision and never a lock which checked for more than a 
moment the going and coming of this long line of wagons. 
The police were stationed all along the road atadistance 
perhaps of two rods apart from the starting place in 
London to Epsom itself. On the grounds the police 
swarmed everywhere. They were very skilful in their 
management of this holiday crowd. They were very 
careful about not using any arbitrary power which would 
provoke the crowd. They were very firm in saying what 
could or could notbe done, butthey acted more as friendly 
monitors than as arbitrary representatives of the law. 
The English constabulary certainly handle large crowds 
in this regard better than we. There is no pushing, no 
jostling, no scrambling permitted. The rights of the 
humblest are respected. The costermongcr, with his 
overloaded vegetable cradle and his little rat of an animal, 
has as fair a chance in the street procession as the showy 
drag, with its handsome, dancing double teams. The 
police on this day, so far as I could see, made but few- 
arrests. Where a man was found transgressing he was 
simply warned. If many arrests were to he made it is 
easy to see that the mob element might become excited, 
and the result would be anything hut tin- good order 
which is now maintained. Forinstance, gambling is nol 
permitted on the grounds at Epsom, hut there were many 
gamblers on the grounds, and they so occasion 

to ply their vocation. They would entrench themselves 
in quiet little corners behind coaches and would in a few 
minutes be doing quite a business, when some active 



2o ENGLISH LIFE. 

member of the constabulary would come along. In no 
case would he make an arrest. He would simply walk up 
to the gambler and make him stop and put up his traps. 
The crowd at this would always fall back good-naturedly 
and the gambler would take his little table and start out 
on his hunt for another hiding place. The gamblers were 
thus kept moving on and on, and while some betting and 
swindling games of no chance took place there were com- 
paratively few, when the great number of people on the 
ground is considered. I saw on one place on the road the 
venerableand classic game of three-card monte. I had not 
believed it possible that there was any place on the globe 
where this most ancient form of swindling could for one mo- 
ment engage the attention of any sane person ; but this rep- 
resentative of three-card monte did a tremendous business 
just outside Epsom for three-quarters of an hour before 
the police found him behind a lovely hedgerow, where, 
backedby amass of flaming rhododenrons, this picturesque 
swindler from the United States explained in voluble 
phrases to the gaping crowd about him how easy it was 
to pick up the right card if one only knew just how to do 
it. A number tried it, greatly to the profit of the operator. 
The last I saw of this genial representative of the United 
States he was offering to wager ten sovereigns that a very 
red-faced 'squire could not pick up the king, and I 
thought I saw, as the coach whirled round a corner, that 
the red-faced 'squire was about to make the attempt. 
What became of this three-card monte man I do not know. 
He was not seen anywhere along the road on the return, 
and there was no evidence of this Spanish-American game 
on the Downs. 

Epsom Downs course is unlike anything we have in 
the United States. The course is over a turf track. That 
is a novel feature. This turf is staked off between the 
same lines which guard our beaten and rolled track. It 
is a much better track, of course, for running horses than 
our dirt tracks, but owing to the way the course is laid the 
greater part of the run is lost to the spectators. The roll- 
ing incline of the course hides the movements of the riders 
from all except those on the highest point of the grand 
stand. This turfy course is open to the public up to the 
very last moment of calling up the horses. The track is 
blocked for half its length with a moving mass of people. 



ENGLISH. LIFE. _, r 

It would not be possible for us to clear our tracks of any- 
such concourse of people in anything like the time in which 
this Epsom race-track is cleared. At the outside it does 
not takeover two minutes to move quietly from the smooth 
and velvety lawn track the entire host of people, who 
take up their positions outside the lines in a matter-of-course 
way, as if nothing- else could be expected. 

The grand stand, on account of the peculiarity of the 
ccurse, is very high. It is six stories in height and the 
top story is without roof. It is a great white framework, 
combined with covered balconies and boxes. The upper 
places on the stand are the only ones Avhere you can see 
everything, and in my judgment this point of view is not 
a good one for any one fond of sport. Abird's-eye view is 
always an unnatural and uninteresting one. Looking 
down from a height of fifty feet or sixty feet upon fii 
is a great disadvantage. To the right and left of these 
stands are a number of smaller stands. In the front of 
them is a long line offence where the public can stand, 
as with us. Opposite the grand stand and across the 
course is a parkway for the carriages. This also corre- 
sponds to the same division as with us. Here are placed 
in line numerous vehicles, the drags, victorias, broughams, 
hansoms and wagons employed by the fashionable 
people and those who have money enough to buy a 
place within this inclosure. The carriages are placed in 
solid ranks ; but the horses are always withdrawn. The 
carriages are placed as closely as possible to each other. 
The points of advantage are next to the track. 

To obtain a position here it is necessary to go to the 
Epsom Downs very early. Although the Derby race 
proper is not run until 3 o'clock, by 1 o'clock ever)- point of 
advantage along the course is taken. The coaches being 
the highest of the wagons are of course a great deal better 
than any of the others. This is the real advantage of 
the drag. The carriages are in double and triple rows 
and are banked from away above the grand stand down 
along the line of the course for upwards of half a mile. 
The horses from these carriages are retired from down a 
declivity at the foot of a small slope at the back of the 
carriages. 

Standing on the top of tin' drag, within a few feet of 
the grand stand, I shall now try to describe some of the 



22 ENGLISH LIFE. 

features presented. The grand stand itself is crowded 
from the base of its wooden frame-work to the top with 
a well-dressed assemblage representing the more experi- 
enced and devoted patrons of the turf. To the right and 
to the left of the stand are a succession of buildings and 
booths. In front of this stand is a great and compact 
crowd of pedestrians and of itinerant venders, thieves, 
and the thousand-and-one motley characters who have 
swarmed down from all quarters of London, ranging 
from the best to the East End slums. The booths are in 
the shape of tents hastily constructed — wooden shanties, 
such as might be seen in a new Western camp. A bril- 
liant flag bearing the coat-of-arms of the United Powers 
of Great Britain and Ireland flaunt against a gray back- 
ground of cloud on the top of the grand stand. This key 
of color is extended throughout the length and breadth of 
the wide stretch across the downs. Flags fly from every 
direction. Opposite the stands is the line of packed car- 
riages which I have just mentioned. On the top ofthese 
wagons are various groups of gayly-dressed people lunch- 
ing and drinking or studying the various pictures pre- 
sented in this hubbub of noise, chatter, song and dance 
passing around, beyond, and beneath them. Following 
the line of the course round there is one succession of 
booths, stands, and tents, while the townspeople swarm 
in such numbers that you soon become weary of trying 
to estimate their number. Upon every breeze there 
comes some new cry, some discordant note of struggling 
bands, the hoarse shouts of the book-makers, the howl 
of the wandering minstrels, the wheedling tones of the 
gypsies, the pop of the champagne corks, the laughter of 
the groups on the wagons — all making a medley of sound 
which is confusing, but at the same time exciting. 

Back of the line of carriages stands a row of book- 
makers. These bookmakers transact business in about 
the same way as our bookmakers. They have the same 
blackboards and give odds in about the same proportion. 
Record of the bets is made in the same way. The better 
is given a ticket, which is cashed or not at the close of 
each race according to his good or bad fortune. Where 
the bookmakers differ from ours is in their dress. Nearly 
all of the English bookmakers wear some peculiarly dis- 
tinctive article of apparel in order to attract attention. I 



ENGLISH LIFE. 2j 

do not know what would be thought on any of the tra 
near New York if some one of the bookmakers should ap- 
pear in a claret-colored suit of velvet or in a servant's 
livery, in order to attract clients. One of the bookmakers 
near me stimulated interest in his stand by wearing a 
great broad, flat brimmed straw hat about three feet 
across, one flap of its broad brim caught up and pinned 
against the crown of the hat by a huge blue how ribbon. 
The face underneath this eccentric hat was cold and mat- 
ter-of-fact and anything but suggestive of the shepherd- 
like simplicity of his head covering. Two other men in 
this row wore purple wine-colored velvet suits and skin- 
tight white breeches, and shiny, low-crowned black 
beaver hats canted over their right ears. In another way 
these bookmakers differed from ours. Our bookmakers 
are very impassive, quiet, and rarely speak unless asked 
a direct question. They have enough to do in watching 
their bulletins and in recording the bets made. The 
English bookmakers constantly vociferate the advantages 
that they have to offer in the way of betting. When they 
are not recording bets they are begging as would an 
auctioneer for bids. Up to the very last second, when 
the race is declared on they were howling loudly for bets. 
Scattered throughout the grounds are smaller bookmakers 
with movable tables who take bets as low as one shilling, 
but these are very untrustworthy men, who, if the odds 
go against them in any way, have a fashion of decamp- 
ing without paying. These men are called, in the lan- 
guage of Epsom Downs, " welchers. " Occasionally you 
will see a crowd running and hooting and stoning and 
chasing some unfortunate British citizen, you would be 
surprised to see the indifference of the police and the ap- 
parent enjoyment of every one at the pursuit of this poor, 
unfortunate Briton who flees as if his life was in danger. 
You ask what is the matter and you are told, "Oh, that 
is a welcher ! The crowd are running him off the 
ground." 

The occupants of the carriages and drags inside the 
parked enclosure have very little opportunity of follow- 
ing the race. Nearly every foot of the enclosure i 
cupied by some one with designs upon the purs, of 
the jolly throng perched up on the roofs of the wagons. 
Gypsies swarm in great numbers. They are the most 



24 ENGLISH LIFE. 

picturesque people at the races. These women tell the 
fortunes of the people of the line of carriages. It is hard 
to escape their good-natured, wheedling, and persistent 
demands. If the people of the carriages ignore them they 
climb up on the wheels, and no one ever thinks of drag- 
ging them off. They are the privileged characters of the 
Downs, and as they always tell good fortunes, long life, 
luck, and good fortune in love and war, for everybody, 
they manage to pick up a great many shillings in the 
course of the day. One of the most picturesque of the 
gypsy women made a small fortune on account of a 
handsome gypsy baby which she carried in her arms. 
This baby was only eight months old, but it carried on 
its stolid brown face a look of the shrewd experience of 
a veteran, I asked the proud mother the name of this little 
one, and she said "Louisa." I handed down Louisa a 
cake. Louisa took possession of it in a matter-of-fact way 
that would have done credit to a child five years old. I 
then handed a glass of brandy-and-water to the mother, 
telling her to drink the health of Louisa. She took a sup 
of it and then turned around and placed the glass of 
strong drink at Louisa's mouth. This gypsy baby took a 
drink which would have knocked out the average weak- 
headed young man, and smacked her lips over it with a 
zest that was peculiarly droll, and then, after having 
taken that enormous drink down without even a shudder, 
turned calmly to her cake. I asked the mother of Louisa 
how much she would take for her baby, just to see how far 
the gypsy fondness for money would go. She was indig- 
nant at this. She wrapped up Louisa in a striped plaid 
and turned away with a swing as she said, with a gesture 
of dissent, that there was not money enough in the world 
to buy Louisa. 

One of the greatest nuisances of the day was the negro 
minstrel. I do not know of anything more distressing 
than the English imitation of the American negro's pecul- 
iarities. This style of fun does not, I should say, bear 
transplanting. The English minstrel is vulgar, awkward 
and coarse ; he is never by any chance funny ; there is no 
real wit in him. The darky humor is spontaneous and 
genial. The English negro minstrels are simply types of 
very bad rejected Music Hall talent of the lowest grade 
disguised behind a coating of burnt cork. Their dress is 



ENGLISH LIFE. 2 5 

in imitation of our minstrels. These men go about and 
howl under the coaches and will not leave until they 
receive something. 

The wandering photographer is also a feature of the 
Derby. All of those happy lunching parties welcome 
the photographer. Those who are on the coaches are 
generally people to whom the Derby is a novelty, and as 
a necessary consequence they are delighted to take home 
with them some permanent souvenir of their new experi- 
ence. The photographer, therefore, does a thriving busi- 
ness. The style of picture taken by him is what is called 
with us, tin-type, which is taken in any one of the galleries 
for 15 or 25 cents. At the Derby each picture costs half 
a crown, or about 622 cents of our money. 

I do not intend to devote any space to the race itself; 
that is such a small and incidental feature of the Derby. 
The favorite did not win. The winner of the race, 
Merry Hampton, had never made any appearance on the 
public track. But that she was to win had been posted 
for several days before the race throughout the London 
clubs. There were a great many happy Americans who 
had received this tip in time, and who had placed their 
money when the odds on Merry Hampton were still 
twelve to one. 

The Derby is only one of a series of races at Epsom, 
and Wednesday, Derby day, is only one of several days 
devoted to racing on this track. On the day of the I >erby 
itself, five races were run, and two of them were much 
more interesting than the Derby. The Derby race was 
run at three o'clock. The distance was one mile and five 
furlongs. The horses were placed, therefore, on account 
of this distance, at a starting post where it was not possi- 
ble they could be seen even by the people on the grand 
stand, with the exception of those occupying seats on the 
upper story. 

There was an affectation of enormous interest at the 
time the race itself was run. The vast crowd turned 
towards the long line of hills beyond which was the start- 
ing post. The venders of threepenny plaees on high 
benches along the fences sold every toot of this point oi 
advantage. The mass of faces on the grand stand 
turned towards the left; those on the coaches and drags 



26 ENGLISH LIFE. 

faced round from the grand stand towards that part of 
the track where the horses were first to be seen. There 
was a moment's comparative silence. Then there went 
up a cry. "There they come! there they come!" and 
there was a shimmering line of bolting horses, a waving 
line of the backs of the silken-jacketed jockeys, and then 
the racers came plunging down over the turf, and in the 
briefest possible moment of time from their appearance 
they were flying down by the grand stand. It was a mad 
rush, and all that the crowds could see of it was this skurry 
at the finish. They all shouted and roared and yelled 
along the line as if it was the most exciting and dramatic 
of spectacles. It was nothing of that. The picnic people 
simply had their attention diverted from stuffing and from 
drinking for a moment. There was some congratulation 
along the line of carriages, among those who were lucky, 
but the majority of the people who had money up had 
selected something else for the winner. There was a 
very small pressure of people about the bookmakers to 
have their tickets cashed. That fact in itself might have 
accounted for the absence of any marked hilarity of feel- 
ing at the close of this world-renowned race. 

One of the great features of the Derby is the extraor- 
dinary number of thieves who go out to plunder and way- 
lay. The carriages were watched like hawks by these 
thieves. No carriage was safe that was not thoroughly 
guarded by one or two servants standing about on the 
grounds. If there was the slightest relaxation of the 
watching some thief would step up quickly and snatch 
the first thing at hand and pass it to an associate, who, 
in turn, disappeared. I saw one active, urgent thief pick 
up from a drag near me a large brown bag filled with 
bottles, glassware and other articles, right from behind the 
servant who had set it down and was turning for one 
other article before going up to finish settling the lunch 
table on the top of the coach. The thief took up the bag, 
and in just one twist it was out of sight down between 
some other coaches, and when the servant turned with 
his table ware he found the bag gone, and with it all 
trace of the thief. Pickpockets also swarmed everywhere. 
People with watches or with money in their pockets were 
fortunate if they escaped without any loss if in their sight- 
seeing they ventured into the dense crowds. 



ENGLISH LIFE. : 7 

But the most striking feature in my mind of this vast 
and motley assembly was the presence of so much dis- 
tress and the evidence of such abject, squalid poverty 
that was to be seen at nearly every hand. There were 
gaunt, lean, hungry wretches who hung about the coaches 
and snapped at every morsel of food that was dropped 
from these coaches with the avidity and voracity of hun- 
gry dogs. There was no bone, however clean it had 
been picked, that had fallen to the ground that was not 
immediately struggled for by two or three men. It 
poisoned every mouthful I took to sec such abject hunger 
upon every side watching the fortunate people who had 
what was unknown to them — plenty of food to eat. I 
gave two boys who stood near me the best part of my 
lunch, and the way that they bolted everything that was 
handed to them showed that they were actually suffering 
from hunger. My attention was first attracted to them 
by their friendship for each other. When one would find 
a bone or scrap he would invariably divide it with the 
other. There was no fighting between them. It was a 
close partnership in a mad hunt for food. Everything 
that I handed down to either one or the other was at 
once scrupulously divided. It was the first time that I 
had ever been confronted with evidence of this tremen- 
dous English poverty which I have heard so much about 
among certain classes. This increasing and terrible poverty 
must account for the increasing emigration. There is 
nothing, I was told by an English gentleman present, to 
give a better idea of the unnatural relation of things in 
England than this very picture represented to-day. Here 
was one class on the top of carriages spending money 
with a lavish hand, apparently rich and certainly careless, 
having everything that plenty of money could give, and 
the other class actually suffering the pangs of want. The 
rich in England are very rich, and the poor are poorer 
than in any country in Continental Europe. 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



CHAPTER III. 

A GLANCE AT THE FASHIONABLE ASCOT MEETING ITS LACK OF IN- 
TEREST FOR A FOREIGNER. 

It is a general belief that the English are fond of rac- 
ing. I have been on two of their great race-tracks 
only, and perhaps this two days' experience is not enough 
for even an approximate judgment, but the surface indi- 
cations contradict the theory that they are really fond of 
racing. They are fond of being out of doors ; they like 
the picnic life found on the race-tracks, but the general 
crowds I have seen take very little interest in the races 
themselves. Betting is always high and general among 
the strictly sporting element, but it is not free enough to 
give what you might call a general interest in the race. 
There is no nervous watching of the horses as with us ; 
no shouts or cheers at the finish. Perhaps this is owing 
to the nature of the tracks. None of the great tracks in 
England are so arranged that the start and the finish can 
be seen by those attending. At the Ascot, where I was 
last Thursday, the course is a straightaway one. Each 
start is out of sight of the grand stand. You have none 
of the interesting incidents of an uncertain start, and un- 
less you have a specially favored position at the Ascot, 
you cannot see the horses nor gain any idea of them until 
the race is fully three-quarters run. The finish is not in 
front of the principal stand, but is continued beyond in 
front of the royal boxes, at the end of the lawn. The 
Ascot is much more of a social than a race meeting. 

The Ascot course is of the same character as that at 
Epsom, only it is quieter and less picturesque. The land 
is more level, and there are none of the rolling hills seen 
at Epsom. At the right and left, as far as one can see, 
are stretches of woodland, meadows, sleepy farms, and 
elegant country places. The course itself is a grassy 
field, carefully laid out and maintained with something of 
the care which you would find on a private estate. The 
stand-buildings, for the accommodation of the patrons of 



ENGLISH LIFE. 2g 

the course are four or five in number, and are three 
stories high. The first two stories are made up of com- 
fortable boxes. These are filled with chairs. They are 
partitioned off from each other so that the occupants have 
great privacy. The third-story of the stand is a succes- 
sion of seats rising in tiers to a much greater height than 
anything I have seen on any American track. 

These principal seats are absolutely unprotected from 
the sun, wind or rain, though the occupants of these for- 
lorn seats are the real supporters of the track. The boxes 
below are given by favor to the friends of the court circle 
and the people whom the Master of Buckhounds thinks 
should have them. The majority of them are not paid 
for. But to see so many prominent people, to come in 
contact, possibly, with royalty, by breathing the same at- 
mosphere with it, though no nearer than something like 
an eighth of a mile, is a great privilege in England, judg- 
ing by the tremendous rush for the seats, although the 
price charged for them is enough to make the man of 
moderate means shed bitter tears. The price for a re- 
served seat in this gallery of suffering innocents is one 
guinea and a half, while the price of admission to the 
grand stand itself before you can sit in your guinea-and-a 
half seat is £i, but between the races the person who has 
parted with his £2 is. has the privilege of descending 
from his sun-burned and wind-swept golden perch aloft, 
and can take his place on the green lawn in front of the 
boxes oceupied by the most select members of London 
society. Very often the occupants of these boxes come 
down on the lawn. This lawn is supposed to be the 
meeting-place of the most fashionable people in all Europe, 
the spectacle of which could not be equalled anywhere 
else in the world. It is upon the crowd on this lawn that 
the English society writers employ their most gushing 
phrases. The crowd is a good-looking one, but in the 
main it is a badly dressed one. I had heard a good deal 
about bad taste in the dressing of the ladies oi the Eng- 
lish high society, but I never had such evidence of it as 
was gained during my stroll up and down 11)1011 the lawn 
last Thursday. There were s<> many women who ap- 
peared to think that royal purple velvet was about the 
most dashy and picturesque material for a racirigcostume 
that could be devised The endless combinations of tins 



30 ENGLISH LIFE. 

purple velvet, with jarring, inharmonious colors, made 
anything but attractive effects. The English bonnet- 
makers are very clumsy. The bonnets are built very 
much like the English road wagons. They are very solid 
looking, and have frames which convey the idea that they 
would come out of a collision or a serious accident intact, 
but in all the elements of grace and looks they are 
lacking. 

The people who seemed to be having the best time 
occupied the high coaches opposite the stand. These 
coaches reached at least a quarter of a mile in solid line, 
and were covered with picnicking parties who gossiped, 
ate, drank and were merry all through the day. There 
were about the same kind of rough entertainments going 
on up and down the course as at the Derby between the 
races. The very moment the horses had reached the 
finish the people swarmed back on the grassy track, where 
juggling, tumbling, and clumsy circus evolutions are 
always going on in this never-ending struggle for pennies 
which one meets at every place in open air engagement 
in England. There were none of the rough or squalidly 
poor on this track as is seen at the Derby, the price 
of admission alone keeps them away. The majority 
of people who visit Ascot come so that they can say 
afterwards that they have been there. It is one of the 
most fashionable events of London ; the mere fact of being 
there is considered in itself such an advantageous thing 
as to preclude any other idea of enjoyment or comfort 
being necessary. 

The great feature of the Ascot is the royal parade on 
the track. This occurred on Tuesday, the opening day, 
and Thursday, Gold Cup day. On Thursday the pro- 
cession started very promptly at one o'clock. There were 
only six carriages. These were long open landaus with 
straw-colored bodies and dark bearings. Each was 
drawn by four horses guided by postilions. The Earl 
of Coventry, the Master of the Buckhounds, led the pro- 
cession. He rode a dark bay horse. He wore a dark 
riding suit, a high hat and a dark riding coat and white 
knee breeches. Following him were four attendants in 
red livery, representing the Ascot course. Then came 
the out-rider for the royal carriage and then the Prince of 
Wales' carriage. The Prince was on the left-hand side of 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



3< 



the front seat, the Grand Duke Michael of Russia was on 
his right. The Princess of Wales and Princess Christian 
sat on the back seat. Both these ladies wore light creamy 
white costumes and shaded their faces from the view of 
those present with great lace-trimmed sunshades. The 
Prince of Wales wore a light spring suit, with a short 
single-breasted overcoat buttoned tightly to his chin. He 
bowed occasionally and saluted, but there was very little 
cheering done. Out of the twenty-five or thirty thousand 
people along the track it is possible that 500 cheered. 
This was the enthusiastic reception described by the Eng- 
lish papers. The occupants of the other carriages attracted 
no attention. The carriages were not five minutes in 
passing in front of the stand. Yet it is this sight of the 
royal procession which brings to the Ascot a greater 
portion of its visitors. 



CHAPTER IV. 

A PRINCE OF WALES' LEVEE. 

A COMPLETE STORY OF A PRESENTATION AT ST. JAMES PALACE. 

NOTABILITIES PRESENT THE RECEPTION CONTRASTED WITH 

THE WHITE HOUSE LEVEES THE RECEPTION OF LADIES BY 

THE QUEEN. 

What is known as the season begins on the first of May 
and continues until the first of August People begin to 
come back to London, however, during the month of 
April. In the capital of the United States the first official 
reception given by the President on New year's Day 
marks the opening of the season in Washington. But 
the official receptions held by the Queen do not appear to 
have any effect in the direction of formally opening the 
season in London. Two were held this year in March. 
Last Monday the Prince of Wales held a levee for the 
Queen at St. James Palace. The Queen's drawing-rooms 
are held in "Buckingham Palace. Ladies make up the 
greater part of the people presented at the Queen's draw- 



32 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



ing-rooms. At the levees ladies are never presented. 
Last Monday, through the courtesy of the United States 
Minister, I was presented and had an opportunity of 
seeing this official parade and comparing it with the 
official and diplomatic receptions of the President of the 
United States. The Prince's levee is not so very much 
different from an official and ceremonious reception by 
the President of the United States. There is a greater 
number of officials to be presented, a larger number of 
uniforms in the throng, greater formality and difficulties 
in the way of access, more parade and ceremony upon 
the outside, but upon the inside everything passes off in 
a matter-of-fact way, very much as at the White House. 
The officers of the army and navy and the diplomats all 
wear their dress uniforms. The high officials of the court, 
in fact every one holding any official position in England, 
makes it a point to appear at one of these State ceremo- 
nials during the year in the full dress of his office. Civil- 
ians are obliged to wear a court dress in order to be re- 
ceived. There are two styles of dress for civilians. One 
is a mulberry suit made of a fine cloth. The coat is of 
an old style that has been worn at this court for a great 
many years. It has a small stand-up collar and is cut 
upon the sides like a dress coat, while it has flaps on the 
hips and is long in the skirt. It has a narrow strip of 
gold braid on the collar, two gold buttons on each sleeve, 
with a small strip of braid ; the buttons front and back are 
large, gilt and embossed with a royal crown. A white 
waistcoat and mulberry-colored breeches, with a narrow 
gold band down the seam, a gilt-handled court sword and 
a gold-braided cocked hat complete this costume. The 
other style of court dress is handsome and becoming to 
most people. Its style, so far as the cut is concerned, is 
the same as the mulberry suit just described, with the ex- 
ception that it has no collar, and is not trimmed with gilt. 
The coat and knee-breeches of this suit are of black velvet. 
The waistcoat is white satin. The court coat is orna- 
mented with steel buttons. The breeches are buttoned 
at the knee with three buttons, and have an additional 
buckle back of the seam where the buttons are placed. A 
steel-handled court sword is worn with this suit. This is 
worn in a belt under the waistcoat, and is drawn up tight 
and close to the side, hanging in line with the left leg. 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



33 



A cocked hat with steel-bead trimmings is also worn with 
this suit, It is carried under the left arm after entering 
the palace. Plain dress shirts, with the regular tie and 
collar of a dress suit, are worn with these costumes. The 
gloves are white kid. Only the left hand is gloved. The 
right hand is left bare. 

People desiring to be presented must have permission 
given them by the Lord Chamberlain. The foreign .Minis- 
ters, members of the royal family or members of the no- 
bility and officials holding high places have the right to 
ask to have people presented. The names are sent 
in several days in advance and each applicant who 
is favorably recommended for presentation receives 
two large cards. These cards are pink on the back, 
with two pink strips upon the front. Between the two 
pink bars on the right and left of the card is a white 
space, upon which is inscribed, in large, plain hand-writ- 
ing, the name of the person presented and by whom pre- 
sented. One of these cards is given up at the entrance to 
the palace and the other is retained until the Lord Cham- 
berlain is reached in the reception-room. There the card 
is surrendered to him and he calls out the name of the per- 
son presented. 

The Palace of St. James is one of the oldest of the royal 
houses. It is on the Mall, very near the Marlborough 
House, occupied and owned by the Prince of Wales. The 
building is a long rambling one, built of brick. These 
are nearly black with age. Its site was originally occu- 
pied by a hospital for lepers, founded in the twelfth cen- 
tury. The present building was constructed by Henry 
the Eighth in the early part of the sixteenth century. 
Queen Mary died in this palace. Charles the First slept 
here the night before his execution. It was the principal 
residence of the English kings from William the Third to 
George the Third. The Queen used to hold her drawing- 
rooms here during the life of the Prince Consort, and it is 
from this palace that the English Court has its name. 

There are two entrances tor visitors upon levee days. 
Those who have the privilege of the entree are driven in- 
to one of the interior courts, and arc permitted to alight 
from their carriages without being obliged to undergo the 
inspection of a street full of curious people. Tin' ordi- 
nary mortals are admitted througha doorway undera low 
3 



34 ENGLISH LIFE. 

porch, whose floor was on a level with the street. It is 
considered the correct thing- to go in a hansom and dismiss 
it when you go in. Then when you go out pick up the 
first one at hand and you do not have to wait for any par- 
ticular carriage. Gentlemen attending these receptions 
have a great advantage over the ladies who are presented 
to the Queen, They have no vexatious waits for carriages, 
and arc admitted much more promptly for presentation. 
Presentations to the Prince of Wales at these levees are 
considered the same as presentations to the Queen. People 
who have been once presented have the right afterwards 
to attend these levees once a year, unless they forfeit that 
right by some scandalous conduct. Between the Park 
and St. James Palace on levee day is stationed a long 
line of Horse Guards to protect and guard the street from 
being occupied by passing carriages. I was advised by 
a friend who has passed through this official ceremony a 
great many times to go early. I arrived at the St. James 
street entrance at 1. 15. The hour of the reception was 
at 2 o'clock and was to continue for one hour. I found 
already upward of a hundred people in advance waiting 
in the room into which the first door directly opened. 

It was a long low room, perhaps a hundred feet in 
length and forty in width. It was supported by pillars. 
The ceiling was white and the walls were covered by a 
dark red tapestry. There was a row of white pillars down 
through the centre of this room. There was an open fire 
at the left of the room under a heavy wooden mantle. 
Upon this mantle were two great blue and white Japanese 
vases filled with flowers. Between these vases was an 
old-fashioned square mirror. Over the mantle was one 
of the celebrated portraits made by Lely in his studies of 
the court beauties of the time Of Charles the Second. 
There were several other portaits of royal faces of early 
times along the line of this wall. The gentlemen present 
moved down in a solidline between the first row of pillars 
and this line of portraits, pressing up against double doors, 
through whose glass windows several officers of the Guards 
and two household servants were standing. Most of the 
people to be presented were army and navy officers. Near- 
ly all of the army and navy officers in London were 
presented They looked very much like the officers 
in our two services, and their talk was upon the 



K\<; LI SU LIFE. 

same subject — of promotions, of the good luck i 
favorite and the bad luck of the poor fellow who had no in- 
fluence. One of the funniest conversations that I heard 
while we were waiting- to have the doors opened suggested 
the intrigues of Washington military and naval life. One 
old General said to another of equal rank, judging by his 
uniform and appearance, "You needn't think you will 
stay in London very long," said the first "Why?" 
asked the other with consternation in his face. "Mrs. — 
has arrived, and she has her finger-nails all sharpened to 
scratch you, and you may be sure that you will be packed 
off somewhere very soon." The officer addressed did not 
seem to make light of this information, but received it 
with as grave and serious an air as if his death-warrant 
had just been read to him. 

About 1.30 the doors were opened. The long corridor 
was now packed from end to end with the people who were 
to be presented. The diplomats and officials who attend 
regularly the court receptions were admitted by other 
ways, and were not seen at all by those who were coming 
to be presented until the audience chamber was reached 

The throng passed in quiet order up one flight of stairs, 
then turned and passed up two or three flights. At 1 1 h 
corner stood a servant in full court livery. These were 
the most imposing features of the spectacle. Thi 
no nobleman or high dignitary present who could begin 
to compare in grandeur and magnificence of deportment 
with these stately servants in their red coats, white waist- 
coats and skin-tight white breeches, white silk stockings 
and patent-leather slippers. Their ruffles were profuse, 
and the gold braid upon their coats matched in richness 
and weight any of the court uniforms of the diplomats. 
These solemn attendants simply posed, and never moA ed. 

An irreverent American who attended one of these 
levees last year had made no arrangement for his over- 
coat. Finding that there was no coat-room and no place 
to put the coat he attempted to obtain some information 
from one of these resplendent beings, but was sent from 
one to the other with an air of stem rebuke until hi 
one in an obscure corner who promised to look after his 
coat for the consideration often shillings. But he told 
the American that it would be as much as Ins place were 
worth if it were known that he had condescended to do 



36 ENGLISH LIFE. 

anything so menial as to look after anybody's coat. 

The last stairway ended on a landing above a rectangle 
guarded by the Yeomen of the Guard. These men are 
generally known as the beef-eaters and can always be 
seen attired in their quaint uniform at the Tower. These 
uniforms are red. The hats worn are stiff-brimmed, with 
soft, bulging crowns, but flat on the top. They stood 
there holding their spears in the same position and oc- 
cupying the same attitude of respectful statues as they 
did at court receptions two hundred years ago. 

Passing from this rectangle the callers passed down a 
long hall to one other doorway, and then to the right into 
a large waiting-room. This waiting-room is about the 
same size as the East Room in the White House. It is in 
white and gold, with dark, dull red brocaded tapestry on 
the walls. There are numerous portraits about the room 
of previous occupants of the palace. The great windows 
in this room overlook the Mall and St. James Park. This 
room is arranged in such a way as to prevent crowding. 
It is divided off into three sections. They suggest simply 
pens to prevent any hurry. The first section runs the 
entire length of the room. This is a long rectangle. 
The other sections are nearly square and are made up by 
a fence running through the centre of the open space left 
by the first section. The fences between these sections 
are brass and with a cushioned railing along the top. 
Those who came first walked into the first section until 
it was comfortably filled, and then it was closed until 
the second section was full, then that was closed and 
the third filled. In each section there were two or three 
officers in the full uniform of the Gentlemen-at-Arms to 
preserve order. At the end of the first section there 
stood a group of these officers between the first visi- 
tors and the audience room. There is no favor shown 
to any one of the visitors. They are all presented 
in the order of their arrival. This room was filled 
up about 1.30. After it was filled the door was closed 
and the others were made to wait below until it had 
been emptied after the levee began. A Washington 
gentleman commenting upon this arrangement to prevent 
crowding said : "I should think these pens would be a 
splendid thing for the White House." Then he added: 
1 ' No, I don't believe they would, though. The Washing- 



EXGLISLT LIFE. 37 

ton callers would jump over the fences." At 1.50 those 
who were next to the window had an opportunity of 
witnessing the showy arrival of the royal coaches bring- 
ing the Prince of Wales and those who were to 1 
with him. This was an interesting sight to a stranger. 
The grounds about the St. James Palace are surrounded by 
high walls. Heavy wooden gates bar the private en- 
trance. This entrance is guarded by a porters lodge. 
Outside of these gates stood a long line of Horse Guards. 
At a signal from the bugler upon the flank of this line of 
guards the porter, wearing a heavy gold-laced uniform 
and three-cornered hat, ran out to open the gates. The 
Horse Guards presented arms ; then appeared one of the 
royal carriages. These carriages were ornamented with 
crowns on the top and decorated with gold leaf until they 
looked like Roman chariots. The horses' harnesses 
were loaded with gold mountings. Long strips of gold- 
stamped leather were placed in rows along their 1 Kicks. 
and new back in the wind as they advanced. Four gold- 
laced footmen stood behind, while an outrider in the 
uniform of the Horse Guards followed each carriage. 
The coachman of the Prince of Wales looked like a 
Mephisto. His overcoat was red and the blanket in 
which he had wrapped his legs and feet was also fiery red. 
He wore a tight-curled wig, upon which he had cocked 
in the most rakish fashion a three-cornered hat. Instead 
of having the solemn countenance of the average English 
driver, his face was almost ribald in its conviviality of 
expression. As soon as the Prince had alighted from his 
carriage this man drove his team down under the 
windows where we were waiting, and there he sat and 
chaffed and shouted at his brother coachmen with the 
freedom and volubility of a hansom cabby. 

At two o'clock sharp one of the Gentlemen-at-Arms 
signalled to those in waiting to advance ; that the Prince 
was ready to receive them. The occupants of tin- fust 
pen moved forward. There was no haste or crowding. 
The officers at the door stood at one side in the attitude 
of attention as the group passed through into the next 
room. 

This room is large and high, about half tin- size of the 
room opening into it, from which the callers had just 
come. The walls are covered with a dark red tapestry. 



S S ENGLISH LIFE. 

The ceilings are a light yellow in tone, picked out in 
gilt. There is only one picture in the room. This is a 
life-size portrait of George IV. , painted when he was a 
young man. This stretches from the wainscoting to the 
frieze on the left-hand side of the room as you go out. 

The Prince of Wales stood at the north end of the room, 
just in front of a small raised platform, over which hung a 
dark red silk canopy. Upon the back part of this canopy 
fell a broad background of red silk, upon which was the 
coat-of-arms of England The Prince wore the uniform 
of a Field-Marshal. His coat was red, his trous rs a 
very dark blue. He wore white kid gloves. He re- 
ceived every one with a pleasant bow and a smile. He 
shook hands only with those whom he knew person- 
ally. In this there was the difference between a presen- 
tation to him and to the President of the United States. 
The President of the United States shakes hands with 
every one who is presented to him. These presentations 
with us are generally made by an officer of the army. 
This officer stands in front of the President, and, meeting 
the advancing visitor, asks him his name and then turns 
to present him. Here the ceremony of presentation is 
much simpler. The Lord Chamberlain stood at the right 
of the Prince, and if anything a half step back of him. As 
the visitor advanced he handed to the Lord Chamberlain 
his card. He in turn then called out the name written 
thereon, and as this name was called the person presented 
advanced, bowed first to the prince and then separately 
to the two members of the royal family who were receiv- 
ing with him. 

After that was done each one walked off, as he would 
after being presented to any-one. There was no one who 
attempted to back off. The attention of the receiving 
party was always directed to the coming, and those who 
left turned their backs directly the last bow was made. 

Upon the left of the Prince of Wales stood the Duke of 
Cambridge, the Commander-in-Chief of the army. He 
was one of t^e finest-looking men in the room. He is 
over six feet in height, very broad-shouldered and deep- 
chested. Although he is sixty-eight years of age he looks 
as strong and vigorous as most men at fifty. His hair is 
nearly white, bushy at the sides and thin at the top. His 
forehead is broad and full. His eyebrows are very 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



39 



bushy. His eyes are a keen blue-gray, deeply set. 
cheek bones are high. His nose is large and irregular in 
shape. White side-whiskers follow around the line of his 
jaw to the base of his nose. His mouth is full and firm, 
while his jaw and chin are square, indicating force of 
character. If his nose were Roman he would resemble 
the portraits of our Gen. Scott. He was dressed in the 
sombre uniform trimmed with black frogs ami braids <>\ 
the Rifle Brigade, of which he is Colon el-in-Chief. ( >n 
each shoulder bows of white ribbon fastened the gold 
collar of the Order of the Garter to his shoulder-knots. 

At his left stood Prince Christian, of Sleswich-Holstein, 
the husband of Helena Augusta Victoria, the third daugh- 
ter of Queen Victoria. He was dressed in a similar uni- 
form to the Prince of Wales. He is a very austere-look- 
ing man. He is a little taller than the Prince of Wales 
and with a slighter figure. He must be at least sixty 
years old. His hair is very white, and he wears it brushed 
back from his forehead, it being parted low on the side. 
His eyes are a very cold blue. His nose is straight. His 
complexion is sallow. A short white mustache and care- 
fully arranged white beard cover the lower part of his 
face. He was very stiff in his manner and bowed only in 
the slightest possible degree to those who were presented, 
with the exception of army officers who were known to 
him. The Duke of Cambridge was especially friendly to 
the army officers. The Prince of Wales had a smile for 
every one. It seemed impossible for him to keep his 
face straight. He would nod and his eyes would begin 
to twinkle whenever he saw any one in the line that he 
knew, and for the strangers he had also a pleasant smile 
and a friendly bow. 

The Lord Chamberlain was as austere and business-like 
in the performance of his part of the reception as if it were 
a religious performance. The Lord Chamberlain is the 
Earl of Lathom. He is a very tall man with a slim figure. 
He does not look unlike .Air. Bancroft, our historian, 
although his features are smaller. He is not so old. lb- 
has the same profusion of fine, silky hair, about the same 
shaped mustache and lou-- flowing beard, but a soil ■ 
in color, which lias not yet reached tin- fleecy whiteness 
of Mr. Bancroft's. He wore a close-fitting dark-blue and 
gold uniform. The buttons were embo ssed with the royal 



4 o ENGLISH LIFE. 

arms. He held in his right hand a gold stick upon which 
he leaned. Back of him were several members of his 
personal staff wearing the same dress, also holding gold 
sticks. To the right of them were other officials holding 
silver sticks. These are the gold and silver sticks in 
waiting. 

To the left of the royal group is the most envied post 
in the chamber for the members of the Diplomatic Corps. 
It is a little space assigned to the six Ambassadors who 
represent Austria, France, Russia, Germany, Turkey and 
Italy at the English Court. These Ambassadors have the 
right to stand on an equality with the members of the 
royal family at all receptions. They have the right of 
admission to the royal presence at any reasonable time. 
They represent the sovereigns of Europe, and as they 
represent them are given the social footing and position 
which the sovereigns themselves would occupy should 
they come to London. They take no part in the recep- 
tion. Few of those who pass down the line around the 
place of presentation ever notice them as they go along. 
They have the wearisome task of standing in one posi- 
tion for an hour or an hour and a half to assert the dignity 
of their rank. Beyond them at the left and standing be- 
tween them and the exit door are Her Majesty's Ministers. 
In the centre of the room in a space the shape of a horse- 
shoe stand all the other diplomatic representatives, the 
Ministers, the Charges d'Affaires and the attaches. 

Those who are presented have to pass rapidly around 
the skirts of this group and directly out of the room, un- 
less they happen to be fortunate enough to know some 
member of the Diplomatic Corps, who can invite them to 
remain. Through the courtesy of Mr. White, the First 
Secretary of our Legation, I was enabled to remain in 
this room and witness the spectacle of advancing officials 
during the remainder of the levee. The eyes of diplo- 
matic envy were constantly turned towards the Ambassa- 
dors. There were only three present upon this particular 
occasion, the Austrian, the Turkish and the Italian. The 
Austrian Minister was the finest-looking of the group. 
He was tall, broad-shouldered, with a large head and 
strong, positive features. His hair was long, iron-gray, 
falling about his swarthy countenance. He wore a full, 
flowing mustache and broad, short beard. He was dressed 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



41 



in a dark uniform with heavy fur cloak falling over his 
left shoulder. He posed for a time in the most picturesque 
of attitudes, and finally becoming- weary of the monotony 
of his position simply leaned back against the wall and 
yawned from time to time. The Italian Minister, Count 
Corti, who was formerly in Washington, is a very small, 
slight, insignificant-looking man, with dark hair, irregular 
features and wearing a small black mustache and short 
beard. The Turkish Minister is also small and slight. 
He had a dark, smooth-shaven, hook-nosed face. His 
hair was dark. He wore his fez and a dark-blue diplo- 
matic uniform trimmed with gold lace. The dresses of 
the diplomats in general were very much like those worn 
by the diplomats in Washington. 

Mr. Phelps was the only Minister present who wore 
no uniform. He was in plain evening dress, and by this 
I mean the evening dress of ordinary fashionable life. 
There have been Ministers who have worn the Court 
knee-breeches with evening- dress, but Mr. Phelps does 
not follow this fashion. Both of his secretaries, Mr. 
White and Mr. Charles Phelps, were also in evening dress, 
without the knee-breeches. Mr. Phelps was not able to 
stand among the Ambassadors, but was obliged to take 
his place in the general group. This is a subject of a 
great deal of annoyance to the English people. They 
wish to give the representative of the United States the 
highest possible social consideration. But they cannot 
give him a rank higher than that given to him by his own 
Government. Mr. Phelps really occupies upon the occa- 
sion of these levees a more prominent position than any 
of the ministers for the reason that he is made so much 
of by Her Majesty's Ministers. At the levees he is nearly 
always engaged in conversation with some of the mem- 
bers of the Cabinet. He is almost the only diplomatic 
representative who receives any special attention from 
the Cabinet. The fact that he stands with them is merely 
the result of social interchange, and when that is con- 
cluded his place is back in the general group. The propo- 
sition to make any Minister an ambassador has always 
met with opposition in Congress, upon tin- ground that it 
is a monarchical title, that an ambassador represents a 
sovereign and that it would he an improper title t<> give. 
France, which is a republic, sends an ambassador, and 



42 ENGLISH LIFE. 

the word ambassador is mentioned in the constitution. 
There is nothing- in it any way but a mere phrase. It 
would not involve the raising of the salary, and it would 
give the Minister a footing that he does not at present en- 
joy. There is no American citizen who would not like 
to have his country stand as well abroad as that of any 
foreign poAver. It cannot gratify any American, however 
much of a republican he maybe, to know that if the Amer- 
ican Minister goes to see the Minister of Foreign Affairs 
on business of the United States, he must give way for 
little Italy or for Turkey or any one of the six powers, 
even if their representatives happen to arrive after him 
and he has already begun his work. There are four seats 
in the diplomatic box in the House of Commons. If the 
American Minister occupies one of these seats he can 
stay there unless enough ambassadors arrive to crowd 
him out. He must always give way and go out of the 
gallery if an ambassador wants his seat. These are petty 
things, but they are very annoying and are constantly 
placing the American representative in a position of infer- 
iority. No nation can have an ambassador representa- 
tive at any court unless that court is willing to receive so 
high a functionary. Spain has been seeking for a number 
of years to have ambassadorial representation at European 
courts, but has not yet succeeded. But in the case of the 
United States, the English Court, which sets the rules for 
the other powers, has made overtures upon several oc- 
sions to have the rank of our representative raised. If 
the United States were to-day represented by an ambas- 
sador he would be at the head of all diplomatic represen- 
tatives in London. Mr. Phelps is to-day at the head of 
them all in a social way. 

The Lord High Chancellor stands at the head of the 
Cabinet He wore the wig and gown of his office. He 
carried in his hand a large gold-embroidered bag. This 
bag is supposed to relate in some mysterious way to the 
seals of his office. The Lord High Chancellor is a 
smooth-faced, active, intellectual-looking man, with a 
big hook nose. I was told during this ceremony that the 
Lord High Chancellor takes precedence over everybody 
up to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and he is the only 
official who stands between him and the royal family. 
As this appointment is generally made from civil life, 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



43 



every English student of law has before him the prize of 
this great position, which permits a plain citizen to take 
rank and precedence above the nobility of the land. It 
seems strange to see him standing above the Prime 
Minister, but that was his position. The Prime .Minister, 
the Marquis of Salisbury, wore the dark-blue and gold 
uniform of a Privy Councillor. He is very tall, broad- 
shouldered and dark. The upper part of his great round 
head is nearly bald. His flowing mustache and long 
beard are still a dark brown, although they are beginning 
to show silver threads. 

One of the most noticeable figures in this Cabinet line 
is that of the little Earl Cadogan, who is the author of the 
recent Land bill now pending in the House of Lords. Ib- 
is very small, slight, and dark. His face is smooth- 
shaven and sharp-featured. His eyes are dark ; his hair 
a dark brown and thin. He is about forty-five years of 
age. He looks like a Catholic priest in austerity and 
solemnity. One of the most noticeably interesting men 
in the group was the Viscount Cross, Secretary of State 
to the Indian Department. Cross is a lord of recent 
creation. He was a member of the House of Com nun is 
for a great many years. He was made a peer in 1886. 
He is the confidential friend of the Queen. She consults 
him about all of her business matters. He arranges all <>t" 
her investments and is really the guardian of her finan- 
cial estate. He is tall, with a spare figure and the face 
of a devout Methodist patriarch. His hair is long ami 
white. His color is high. His features are irregular in 
shape, the nose being quite large. His mouth is full- 
lipped. His eyes are a blue-gray, over which he always 
wears a pair of gold-mounted spectacles. He lias some- 
thing of the benevolent appearance and air of the patriarch 
Senator Joe brown, of Georgia, lie is one of the most 
upright men in English public life, and bears with great 
good nature and fortitude the chaff which is occasionally 
paid out to him on account of his being one of the newest 
of the peers. 

There was very little attempt at general conversation 
throughout the room. Those who were privil 
remain in the room appeared to be mi »ted in 

watching the prominent people who were from tune to 
time presented. The army officers made the best ap- 



44 ENGLISH LIFE. 

pearance. To them this form of ceremony was an every- 
day affair. They could bring their heels together with a 
click and make the regulation bow in one time and two 
motions, which none of the most accomplished of the 
civilians even remotely rivalled. There was a celerity 
of movement and a perfection of arrangement about the 
whole affair which snowed the value of some centuries of 
practice. There was not a hitch in any part of the line 
or a second's hesitation or crowding. Those who passed 
out were sent down through another line of beef-eaters 
back to the low hallway through which the entrance 
had been made. When once outside several agents of 
hansom-cab lines stood about looking for customers, and 
the line of policemen handled these carriages so deftly 
that there was no blocking and hardly a moment's delay 
in getting away. All about the palace there was a great 
crowd reaching out into the adjoining squares and open 
spaces. But the line of guards and constables kept the 
passageways open so that carriages were freer to move 
out at a rapid pace than when they actually reached 
some of the regular thoroughfares of the city. 

This levee was for gentlemen. The Prince of Wales 
received for the Queen. When ladies are presented, the 
Princess of Wales receives, when the Queen becomes 
fatigued or for special reasons desires to avoid the cere- 
mony altogether. 

The English papers are fond of poking fun at these pres- 
entations, where ladies sit for hours, waiting for the 
chance to make a bow to royalty, and then to walk on to 
another prolonged wait for their carriages. The desire 
of American women to be presented at court has been 
greatly exaggerated. Of the sixteen hundred odd ladies 
presented in 1888, only fifty were Americans. In this 
connection it must be again remembered that there is 
not now the slightest obstacle in the way of any American 
lady in good standing, being presented unless she is di- 
vorced, or is visiting in Europe without her husband. 
The Queen insists that where married ladies are received 
that their husbands shall come to court with them. 

Much of the gossip about the presentations has no basis 
of fact. The English papers continually misrepresent the 
scenes about the palace on a presentation day. They 
are fond of portraying women in the most indecent of 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



4 5 



decollettee dresses shivering- under the insults and ribald 
remarks of a gaping crowd for hours. Much fun has been 
poked at the kind of carriages employed. At one of the 
May functions of last year I drove around from one end 
of the palace grounds along the various lines of carriages, 
taking in the entire number of people who were waiting 
to be presented. Later in the afternoon the carriages 
were arranged in divisions. There was the first division, 
extending down the broad carriage drive of the Mall ; 
the next division was on the right of Buckingham Palace, 
extending around west towards the back of the ground. 
Then there was the third division on the opposite side. 
The line on the Mall was given precedence. The side- 
walks were crowded along this line of carriages, but ow- 
ing to the rain which fell at intervals the crowd was not 
as great as usual. The line of carriages in the Mall 
stood in the centre of that broad way and there was a 
line of policemen which kept the road clear and allowed 
no carriages except those going to the palace to enter 
that way. There were none of the spectators who could 
come nearer than fifteen or twenty feet of this line of 
carriages. It was only when the carriages began to 
reach the sidewalks about the palace that the spectators 
had an opportunity of coming close to the carriages. 
Throughout the entire line of spectators I saw no signs 
of rudeness. The people clustered about looking at 
beautiful dresses through the open windows of the car- 
riages in about the same way as they would look at 
pictures in a gallery and in about the same spirit 

In nearly every carriage there were two ladies. The 
trains of their court dresses massed in front of them made 
a billowy heap of silk, and the laces reached nearly to 
their chins. Occasionally there would be some forlorn 
man sitting upon the front seat. In the carriages a sight 
of this kind was nearly always a subject of quiet ridicule 
by the crowd. No man, however ferocious or distin- 
guished, could look anything but sheepish and out of place, 
with his head just sticking out above the frippery of court 
dresses. I saw no evidence of indecency, so dwelt upon 
by the English newspapers. The dresses were not more 
decollettee than would be seen at an average evening 
party in New York. It was plain that it was not obliga- 
tory to have them cut too low, for the majority of the 



46 ENGLISH LIFE. 

ladies had their dresses cut most modestly. In no in- 
stance was any lady obliged to submit to any exposure 
of her charms before the spectators, for the majority of 
them wore wraps about their shoulders. Those who did 
not, and sat with bare shoulders and bare arms in the 
face of a gaping crowd, probably did so as a matter of 
choice. This evening costume in. the glare of midday 
appeared incongruous. That is the only criticism that 
could properly be directed against the style of dressing. 
I noticed that ladies who wore the most decollettee dresses 
were old, and had the least reason for such an exhibition. 
Those who had handsome figures were the most modest 
in displaying them. The most extremely reckless and 
liberal were fat dowagers of fifty. 

One of the features of the performance was the 
quiet lunching all along the line. Some ladies had 
brought their maids with them, and even a teapot, 
with spirit lamp. I saw one maid preparing a pot of tea 
and serving lunch to her veteran mistress, who was going 
through this drawing-room wait like an old campaigner. 
Some of the fair waiting ones rolled themselves up in furs 
and whiled away the time by reading novels. Others 
kept to newspapers and magazines. It was over six 
hours from the time the carriages first formed before the 
occupants were received and sent home again. Not one 
of them in this long time was in the throne-room, where 
the reception took place, for more than fifteen minutes. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.- — COMPARED WITH OUR HOUSE OF REPRE- 
SENTATIVES, THE HOUSE OF LORDS AND THE FAMILIES THEREOF. 

The House of Representatives in the United States has 
not with us the best of reputation for order and decorum 
in the conduct of its proceedings, but it is a grave, digni- 
fied and quiet body compared with the House of Com- 
mons of Great Britain. The English House of Commons 
is considered the most conservative and orderly of the 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



47 



European legislative bodies, yet if business were to be 
conducted at Washington after the same fashion of the 
English House of Commons the country would have 
some reason for accusing Congress of being a turbulent 
and disorderly body. There are not half a dozen men in 
the House of Commons who can speak without being 
subjected to a running fire of jeers, sneers, groans, and 
hoarse laughter. The few speakers who are the general 
exception to the rule cannot command always respectful 
attention. Mr. Gladstone meets with fewer interruptions 
than any other man in Parliament when he is engaged 
in speaking, yet even he cannot go through an entire 
speech without encountering an occasional hoot, derisive 
cough or contemptuous and supercilious snorts, expres- 
sive of disbelief and denial, from the Ministerial side. 
These members make most uncouth noises and derisive 
howls, which appear to an unprejudiced stranger to be 
the most undignified of methods for expressing differ- 
ences of opinion. I have heard the Conservative mem- 
bers charge that the Irish members are responsible for 
introducing this style of debate in the House of Com- 
mons. This I very much doubt. The Conservatives are 
altogether too apt and too ready in the use of this weapon 
of personal abuse to have taken lessons from any one. 
The practice is now a well-nigh universal one with the 
members of the House of Commons. It is certainly as 
prevalent upon one side of the House as on the other. 
Only the oldest and most dignified of the members re- 
frain. I have never seen Mr. Gladstone or any of his 
immediate lieutenants join in this chorus of insulting 
noises made by the Liberal side, neither is it common for 
the members of the Ministry to join in the uproar occa- 
sioned by any of the members of the Conservative side. 

It takes men of strong self-possession and ready com- 
mand of all their resources to make any kind of speech 
in the face of the obstacles in their way in the House of 
Commons. I have no doubt much of the hesitation and 
stammering of the less ready members is occasioned by 
their nervousness at the uproar caused by their remarks 
whenever they make a statement which can be contro- 
verted in any way by the opposition. The true orator is 
a man of fine feeling, of a sensitive temperament, and 
peculiarly susceptible to the weapon of ridicule. What 



4 8 ENGLISH LIFE. 

orator is strong enough to indulge in a fine flow of poetic 
sentiment or feeling when every phrase is followed with 
jeering, insulting noises from well-dressed, skilful experts 
in every form of parliamentary insult ? Men after a time 
become hardened to this form of abuse, but at the same 
time it has had this effect — this style of criticism and 
lack of attention has killed everything in the way of 
rhetorical eloquence. There is no speaker, outside of 
Mr. Gladstone, who would venture upon a field of dis- 
course which savored in the slightest degree of the senti- 
mental. None of the speakers in the House of Commons 
venture upon anything but plain matter-of-fact business 
statements. Even Mr. Gladstone, who is an exception- 
ally eloquent man, confines his talk in the main to clear, 
matter-of-fact, business-like utterances concerning the 
subject under consideration. 

The Irish members have suffered most from this style 
of Parliamentary tactics. They are the emotional men 
of the House. They are extremely sensitive, much more 
sensitive than any of the English members and therefore 
much more susceptible to this line of abuse. The Irish 
are constantly being made to appear in the papers as 
turbulent breeders of mischief, as men who have no re- 
gard for parliamentary decorum. They are the only 
members who have been punished or reproved this ses- 
sion for breaches of Parliamentary manners. But this is 
owing simply to the fact that they are much more pas- 
sionate and have less control over themselves in times 
of excitement. The English members employ every pos- 
sible means to irritate their Irish colleagues without in- 
curring personal responsibility, when the Irish member 
will become excited and jump up and make remarks 
which expose him to the instant attention of the Speaker. 
The English members actin concert, and call their insults 
in chorus, so that no one of them can be singled out for 
punishment. It is this concert of attacks which exas- 
perates the Irish members and makes them reckless of 
punishment. Mr. Healy, who was suspended last ses- 
sion, could have escaped punishment if he had apologized. 
Perhaps he would have apologized, but, as he looked 
across at the Opposition benches, there was a mild titter 
running along the line. It was very low, and nothing 
that could be called to the attention of the Speaker, yet it 



ENGLISH LIFE. 4g 

was as maddening in its effect upon Healy as if lie had 
been struck in the face, and he at once refused an apology 
and was suspended. This suspension is not a very seri- 
ous punishment. A Member of Parliament receives no 
pay. Mr. Healy' s suspension merely gave him a vaca- 
tion. His punishment under the circumstances certainly 
did not injure his standing in the slightest degree in his 
district. In this form of quiet insult the English mem- 
bers are past masters. It was the quiet titter and the sly 
sneer which followed Dr. Tanner out of the House dur- 
ing the same session and put him into such a state of 
rage that he replied insultingly to Mr. Long when the 
latter addressed him. If the Irish members only had 
more self-control they could put a stop to all this. But 
they indulge in this form of parliamentary tactics them- 
selves, and therefore have no cause to complain. But 
every time they lose their tempers under the goad of 
English taunts they expose themselves to very effective 
attacks upon the part of the opposition. 

Mr. Parnell is wise enough to know this, and his self- 
control is the real secret of his leadership to-day. He 
never loses his temper, and rarely, if ever, makes an 
angry retort unless under enormous provocation. He ig- 
nores the jeers, and the coughs, and the shouts and the 
groans, and never permits this form of opposition to break 
for one momentthe smooth flowof his cold-blooded, well- 
considered and incisive line of argument. It is he who 
rebukes in the sternest language the Irish members who 
lose control of themselves, and who thereby please the 
English Conservative members in making some demon- 
stration which will give the English an opportunity to 
call the attention of the Speaker to them. It is this system 
of goading uid pricking with pins which lies underneath 
the surface of the House proceedings, and it is necessary 
to witness this in order to understand the violent scenes 
in the House which crop up from time to time, as a result 
of this maddening system of personal insult and political 
persecution. There is no such (hing in fie present 
House of Commons at the present time as fair play. 
Political partisanship is carried to its extreme limit. I hen 
is hardly a newspaper in Great Britain which is inclined 
to defend the character of the present House majority. It 
is constantly a subject of criticism from even the most 



5 o ENGLISH LIFE. 

extreme Conservative papers, but they nearly always 
wind up their criticisms upon the Opposition leaders by 
alleging as a palliation that all the disorder, riot, and lack 
of manners can be directly traced to the evil influence oc- 
occasioned by the presence in the House of the Irish 
members. 

From day to day I discovered interesting customs of 
the ancient times which still prevail in London. At the 
House of Commons access to the gallery for unofficial 
personages is not easy. There is so much formality of 
waiting to be gone through that one's patience is sorely 
tried if he has not written in advance for an order. The 
other night I was waiting in the lobby for a member to 
come out when I saw two boys, with shovel-board caps 
cocked over their ears and with black cloaks flowing back 
over their narrow shoulders, walk by the guards with a 
swagger that was very amusing. The policeman did not 
stop them. I heard one of the understrappers at the door 
mutter under his breath : "What himpudence of them 
brats!" I then made inquiries and found that the boys 
who attend the Westminster School, in the neighborhood 
of the House of Parliament, have had from time imme- 
morial the right of free and unquestioned admission to 
the galleries. They are the only people in England who 
have this right, and you may be sure that they make the 
most of it. The flunkies about the door are never so happy 
as when they are guarding these galleries to keep out the 
outside public. These merry-faced, swaggering lads 
never miss an opportunity of showing their superiority 
and their rank, while at the same time they never fail to 
indicate also their burning contempt for the flunkies, who 
are powerless to check their admission, for the boys are 
absolutely protected in their right through this ancient 
custom. 

There are some points of resemblance in the scenes 
about the House of Commons and our House of Repre- 
sentatives. There is the same rushing to and fro of 
lobbyists and sightseers. There is the same eager rush 
to command the personal attention of members. But the 
points of resemblance are not many. There is the great- 
est possible difference in the accessibility of members of 
Parliament. The outside public never gets nearer to the 
House than the rotunda or circular space between the 



ENGLISH LIFE. t { 

two houses. This open space is about as far distant from 
the two houses as is the rotunda in our capitol from our 
two houses. Stalwart policemen in black uniforms, with 
black helmets crowded well down over their heads, stand 
about at every available point. There is not a door or 
entrance to the houses of Parliament not guarded by 
policemen. The main approach to the House of Com- 
mons is guarded by at least half a dozen police officers. 
From the rotunda, extending out into the open space for 
the distance of fifteen or twenty feet, are two wooden 
railings, the extensions of the passage to the Chamber. 
The crowds form outside these railings and beyond. From 
this point they are occasionally permitted to send in cards 
to members. When the member appears the name of 
the constituent is shouted in a loud voice by the chief 
official at the door, and then member and his caller retire 
to some less conspicuous place to talk. Admissions to 
the gallery are secured only by orders from the Speaker or 
individual members. The galleries are so small that I do 
not see how it could be otherwise arranged. The Speak- 
er's gallery will hold perhaps thirty people. The gallery 
assigned to the public on members' orders will not hold 
over one hundred and fifty people. If the number of ap- 
plications for seats is very largely in excess of the capac- 
ity of the gallery, then the applicants have to be voted for 
on the floor of the House by the members. Ladies are 
not permitted in the galleries. The Speaker could not 
have his own wife in the special gallery controlled by 
him. The only place where ladies can go is behind the 
bars of a hidden gallery above the reporters' tables. 

They can get there only by making an application a 
long time ahead. Their names have to be put up in a 
list on the floor and balloted lor before an order can be 
obtained. Last Friday 1 visited the House of Commons 
and through the Speaker obtained an order tor a seat in 
his gallery, where I heard lor the first time .Mr. Gladstone 
in his speech opposed to the coercion programme pro- 
posed by the Government. 

The hall of the House has not over one-quarter the 
capacity of our House of Representatives. It is rectan- 
gular in shape, with very high walls and half-arched ceil- 
ings. Its Gothic architecture and stained i;'lass windows 
give it more the appearance of a church than a legislative 



5 2 EXGL1SH LIFE. 

chamber. The galleries run entirely around the hall, and 
overhang and darken the chamber to the extent of their 
full width. The short end of the rectangle back of the 
Speaker is given up to the reporters of the English news- 
papers. No foreign newspaper correspondent is admitted 
to this gallery, upon the theory that every seat is needed 
for the English reporters. There is a great, strong wire 
screen between this very dangerous class of visitors and 
the House. This gallery will hold about sixty. The 
front row in this gallery has seats for twenty. The 
occupants of these front seats are the only ones in this 
gallery who can see and hear with any degree of satisfac- 
tion. The galleries at the other end of the rectangle have 
three divisions. The first two front rows are cut in half. 
The right half is the Speaker's gallery. The left division 
is reserved for peers. Back of these two, with a raised 
solid black walnut wall so as to shut off as much as pos- 
sible the view below, is the public gallery. The galleries 
on the long lines of the rectangle are reserved exclusively 
for members who cannot find seats upon the floor. The 
chamber has only seating capacity for about one-third of 
the members. 

The Speaker, the Right Hon. Arthur Wellesley Peel, has 
held that office for the last five years. This office does 
not correspond in political character to the same office in 
our House. It carries with it no political advantage, and 
is never made the subject of partisan contest. It is more 
like a judicial office. He acts merely as the presiding 
officer of a parliamentary debating society. He must be 
a member of the House, and must be re-elected every 
Parliament. He sits under the reporters' gallery, facing 
the two special galleries. His chair places him about 
four feet above the level of the floor. It is a species of 
throne. It has a high back, sheltering sides and an 
arched wooden canopy. The interior lining of the chair 
is black. The Speaker wears a gray wig, which descends 
in tight curls to his shoulders. The front of the wig hides 
his forehead entirely. He wears a long, flowing black 
gown over a full court costume of black. His knee- 
breeches have silver clasps. Silver buckles ornament the 
front of his patent leather shoes. A small sword just 
peeps out from the folds of his sombre costume. The 
Speaker's face is thin, sallow and angular. The lower 



ENGLISH LIFE. 53 

part of his face is extended by a sharp-pointed brown 
beard. To the irreverent American visitor the Speaker is 
not an imposing sight. He looks much more like an 
actor gotten up for comic opera than the presiding officer 
of one of the oldest legislative assemblies in the world. 
He has no table in front of him, but the arms of his chair 
are so wide that they are ample for the little writing that 
he has to do while presidir j. The Speaker has a very 
clear, sharp voice, and a very energetic, nervous manner, 
not at all Eng^sh. He points his bony right finger at a 
member and fires his name at him like a pistol shot on the 
second of his rising. He passes from side to side with 
great impartiality. Nearly everything is left to the House 
itself. When the Speaker calls for a viva voce vote he 
delays the announcement of the result long enough for 
any one to make an objection and demand a formal 
count. He says over several times, "I think it's yea, I 
think it's yea," or the reverse, before declaring the result. 
When a formal vote is taken every member has to leave 
the House, the yeas going jut the front £.wt and the nays 
going out at the left. The attendants at the doors check 
them off as they go out. 

In front of the Speaker sit three clerks wearing wigs 
and black gowns. The desk in front of them is very 
large and broad. In front of this desk is still another 
desk, upon which rests a great gilt mace with a crown on 
the top. Upon each side at each end of the mace are 
two large boxes of rosewood or mahogany, bound in 
brass. It is upon these boxes that the leaders of the de- 
bates rest their papers. The members' seats run in 
parallel lines with the longest way of the chamber. The 
bench upon the right of the Speaker, facing the open space 
in the rectangle, is occupied by the members of the ( 'ab- 
inet. They must be present at every sitting of the I louse. 
Upon the left bench from the Speaker and facing the cabi- 
net, not over ten feet from them, sit the leaders of the 
opposition. The members of the Cabinet are selected 
from the members of the House of Commons. Tiny are 
the constant target of question and attack. These attacks 
sometimes degenerate into howls of derision. Their 
presence on the floor of the House gives a personal zest 
to the debates unknown to our House of Representatives. 
The reason of this is very clear. The Cabinet in England 



54 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



is the Government. If it can be pulled down in the House 
and defeated in a vote upon any decisive measure, then it 
must resign and give way for a new Cabinet to be made 
up from the party successful in putting them down. This 
compact line of men has to be armed at every point to 
meet the constant fire showered upon them in every 
session. Imagine the Cleveland Cabinet being obliged to 
sit every day in the House of Representatives to explain 
and defend the acts of the Administration. Certainly our 
present Cabinet, under such a daily fire, would soon have 
to be reorganized. 

I discovered in this night's session of the House of 
Commons why it is that the officials of the English Gov- 
ernment are averse to being interviewed. There is no 
reason or necessity for any newspaper interviews after 
they have run the gauntlet of questions in the House. 
Every member has the right to ask any question he 
pleases and it must be answered. The business of gov- 
ernment here is done much more in the light of open day 
than with us. These questions are first formally submit- 
ted in writing, then printed, and the members of the Cab- 
inet given a certain brief time, if necessary, to prepare 
answers. Any curious British citizen who wants to know 
anything about any matter of policy can have a question 
put into the House hopper by his member, and an answer 
is sure to be ground out at an early day. 

Talk about the Yankee capacity to ask questions ! I 
am sure the)'' can be more than matched by their curios- 
ity-stricken English brethren. Friday night, when I was 
in the gallery, questions were asked and answered for 
upward of an hour, and such questions ! One member 
wanted the Home Secretary to tell him if it was true that 
a dog had been taken away from a blind girl by some 
local Dogberry because she had no license for the dbg, 
£2 being the London dog-license fee. The Home Sec- 
retary replied that he had investigated the subject. The 
dogs of blind people were exempt under the license law, 
but it was proved in this case that the girl was not really 
blind. Then he was called on to say whether it was true 
that certain river steamers chartered for the University 
race had put up signs that passengers not behaving them- 
selves would be "chucked overboard" by the police. 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



55 



The Secretary responded, with great gravity, that no such 
orders had been given to the police, etc. 

Mr. Gladstone's head suggests the portraits of Daniel 
Webster. He has the same massive features and same 
ponderous outline. His forehead is very full and high. 
His eyes are deep set in hollow caverns under beetling 
eyebrows. His huge Roman nose, square at the end, 
stands out fiercely from his strong, square, pugnacious- 
looking face. His short, closely trimmed side-whiskers 
are merely gray, not white. His hair is quite thin and 
is combed with a full sweep over the top of his head, 
parting low on the side. His face has the good color of 
a temperate, healthy man. His manner indicated strength. 
He did not look a day over sixty. He was dressed, when 
I saw him, in a loose-fitting black frock suit, with a purple 
orchid in his button-hole. When he spoke he was very 
simple and direct. He had none of the mouthing and 
stammering affectation of the general run of the members. 
There was nothing in his delivery to suggest any typical 
English peculiarity. He employs the conversational 
rather than the oratorical style. He has the air and man- 
ner of a great special pleader, while there is underlying 
all of his talk a vein of sarcasm of the political veteran. 
He is very quick, and turns upon an antagonist with 
lightning-like adroitness. He rarely wears his hat when 
he is sitting on the benches, as is the custom with the 
majority of members. Mr. Gladstone is the most abused 
and most admired man in all England. In this one re- 
gard the public estimate of him here corresponds in a 
great degree to the public opinion of James G. Blaine in 
the United States. 

The members of the House ofCommons are not asstrong 
a looking set of men as the members of our House of Rep- 
resentatives. The Opposition leaders are tin- only line- 
looking men in the House. Sir William Harcourt, one 
of Mr. Gladstone's most active lieutenants, is almost a 
giant in size. He has a great square face and a big hook 
nose. His eyes are blue, and his manner has the brusque- 
ness of a New York business man. He is as straight as 
a military man, while he cocks his silk hat over Ins l.-ii 
ear with the swagger of a sporting gentleman. The mem- 
bers of the House ofCommons pay more attention to 
dress than the members of our House. The House never 



5 6 ENGLISH LIFE. 

meets until 4 or 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and then sits 
through until 10, 12 and 1 o'clock. Sometimes, but it is 
rare, there is an all-night session. The members, when 
they come in in the afternoon, are generally arrayed as so- 
ciety men dress themselves for attending an afternoon re- 
ception. They nearly all wear closely buttoned-up black 
frock coats, some of them single-breasted cutaway coats. 
But every coat is black, and is closely buttoned up. Every 
member wears a silk hat. There is no exception to this 
rule. The greater majority of them wear very shining 
patent leather shoes, and some even of the older men 
wear light over-gaiters over these shoes to give an ap- 
pearance of smallness to their feet. Buttonhole bouquets 
are worn in great profusion. There has been a great im- 
provement of late years in the neatness and the trimness 
of the dress of the members of our House. But there are 
few of them who would venture to attend a day session of 
the House arrayed with such excessive care as is found in 
the daily dress of the members of the House of Commons. 
During the sitting the members wear their silk hats, but 
take them off when they address the chair. This custom 
of wearing hats during the session is falling off to a cer- 
tain extent. I noticed a large percentage of the members 
did not put on their hats at all during the session. A heavy 
silk hat is uncomfortable enough to wear when one is 
obliged to. There are a number of bald heads in the 
House of Commons. Without doubt the largeness of the 
number can be traced directly to this habit of wearing 
continually the heavy hat within doors. 

I visited, during my first call at the Houses of Parlia- 
ment, the House of Lords. Several of the senior peers 
were sitting as a Court of Appeals. This chamber corre- 
sponds in size to that of the House of Commons, and its 
arrangement of seats and galleries is the same. Every- 
thing here is in red. The walls and ceilings are bright 
with this color, while the desks and seats are upholstered 
in red leather. I used to think that the Supreme Court 
room of the United States was about the dullest and most 
sleepy place to be found, but it is a place of exhilarating 
excitement in comparison with the House of Lords. 
There is absolutely no popular interest in its proceedings. 
Its influence is absolutely negative. I was shown into 
this room by one of the officials in charge of the building 



ENGLISB LIFE. 



57 



and found that the place where visitors were allowed to 
go, was a little pen at the left of the entrance, where not 
over ten people could stand at one time. This pen is 
never crowded at any time. The dozen or more Lords 
who were attendant upon this session were seated about 
with the dull, wearied look of unimportant members serv- 
ing on some obscure Congressional committee. They 
were a comfortable, clean-looking group of old gentlemen, 
whose faces did not indicate the semblance of interest in 
anything. The peers who sat as the chief judges in this 
case wore wigs and gowns. It is said that the peers take 
much more interest in the proceedings of the House of 
Commons than in their own. There is never a debate in 
the House of Commons when the peers' gallery is not 
filled to overflowing. With us, Senators no longer visit 
the House of Representatives, except upon very special 
occasions, but not at all as a regular thing. 

The House of Lords will be the first body to feel the 
effect of modern progress in Great Britain, Undoubtedly 
the public mind is slowly but surely forming against the 
rights of hereditary sittings in the Upper House. The 
majority of the members of this body are without 
doubt cultivated, well-bred gentlemen. Among them 
there are a few black sheep, and their blackness is 
made much more conspicuous by their having become 
social outlaws, from a high and conspicuous order. When 
once they fall, they are like women who have lost their 
social position. When one considers their surroundings, 
their wealth, their enforced idleness, and the tremendous 
adulation which surrounds them everywhere they go, it 
is a wonder that they remain as respectable and good as 
they are. But the fact still remains that talent is notof 
necessity hereditary. The children of great men arc nearly 
always weaker than their fathers. The firsl places in the 
peerage are won through ability or special service. When 
that position passes to the son, it often passes to a weak 
and incompetent man. If the peerage were not strength- 
ened constantly by the presence in the House of Lords of 
the law lords, the bishops who come up through merit or 
ability in the Church, and through distinguished service in 
the House of Commons, the body would soon sink into 
hopeless intellectual inferiority. These new recruits save 



5 S ENGLISH LIFE. 

it to a certain degree, but the body as a whole is, in a 
legislative sense, weak. 

This intellectual inferiority and lack of legislative char- 
acter, constitute the chief source for the popular prejudice 
against the present prerogatives of the House of Lords. 
In other words, this body is unable to protect itself through 
lack of ability. The House of Lords to-day is absolutely 
powerless against the House of Commons upon any legis- 
lative question of the slightest importance. In the United 
States the Senate, or the Upper House, is really the stronger 
body. In a contest between the two Houses, in your 
country, the House nearly always has to recede. Here, 
the House of Lords always recedes if the matter is of 
enough importance for the House of Commons to assert 
itself. The utmost that the House of Lords can do is to 
cause a slight delay, which will give the House of Com- 
- time for a second thought. If the House of Com- 
mons reasserts its original position, then the House of 
Lords' opposition always falls. The House of Commons is 
made up of the strongest men in ( ireat Britain. They reach 
their places through fierce competition for the suffrages of 
the people. The result is that their debates are the only 
ones in which the public take any interest. The sweep- 
ing changes which have taken place in Great Britain in 
the last ten or fifteen years, in the extension of suffrage, 
further strengthens and popularizes this all-powerful body. 
With this House the question of future royalty lies. 

I once asked a prominent official here the following 
question: 

•• How do you account for the fact that the English 
people, forming one of the most virile and independent 
of civilized nations, should be content to be ruled even 
nominally by a woman, and, second, how do you ac- 
count for the fact that they who have a strong prejudice 
against foreigners should consent to be ruled by a line of 
foreigners ? " His reply to this was very pertinent and 
direct. " I had better answer the second part of your 
question first, " said he. "It is true that there is an 
intense prejudice in England against foreigners having 
anything to do with the Government. Foreign-born 
people have no chance in politics. The English people 
will not have them in responsible offices. But when it 
comes to a question of royalty there is such a jealousy 



ENGLISH LIFE. ?y 

among the great families here that they would not 
consent to any one of them being- elevated to the rank of 
royalty. You see, there is a sacredness attached to the 
personalty of royalty which belongs to nothing else in 
Great Britain. The English higher orders would prefer 
to pay this personal deference which royalty commands 
to a descendant of a foreigner rather than to any one of 
their own social rank. As to their consenting to be ruled 
by a woman, that is a mere incident. They know that 
royalty means nothing beyond show. It is about the 
same kind of thing as having a lady manager for a ball." 

The other day I had an opportunity of seeing, within 
a circumscribed space and at short range, a represent- 
ative crowd made up of the families of the highesl rank 
in Great Britain. This was on board the "Euphrates," 
a snowy white troop-ship, assigned, during the recent 
naval review at Portsmouth, to the House of Lords and 
the families of the peers. It was through the favor of an 
official friend that I had tickets for this ship. The 
number of people who did not officially belong to this ship 
was not large, but it was sufficiently large to annoy some 
of the minor members of the English aristocracy who 
were quartered on this boat. The Lord Chamberlain had 
charge of the ticket arrangements, and he wasat onetime 
rather torn up in his mind because his authority had 
evidently been overruled by some of the high officials of 
the Admiralty. I saw one slim-waisted, energetic-look- 
ing lady of about thirty come up to him with mock hum- 
mility, and say: " Good morning, Lord Latham. I received 
your very polite note yesterday saying that it would be 
absolutely impossible for me to have a ticket for this 
vessel and that under no circumstances could 1 get here. "' 
Then she added, after a dramatic pause: " Well, you see 
I am here." The Lord Chamberlain lifted his hat from 
his very small head and bowed very low, saying that he 
was very glad to see her, but he looked anything bul 
pleased. I heard him say afterwards to some of his 
associates that he never knew the House of Lords con- 
tained so many members as it did that day. 

I was surprised to find how few really fine-looking, 
distinguished people there were to be found in this most 
representative group. I had no means of judging their 
mental accomplishments, and so am obliged to online 



6o ENGLISH LIFE. 

my criticisms of them to their physical appearance. The 
Lord Chancellor, who was one of the highest dignities on 
board, is a venerable-looking old man, with strong, posi- 
tive character in his ugly, irregular-featured face. He is 
round-shouldered and has a very bad figure, and, with a 
heavy, slouching walk, is anything but graceful. The 
Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Latham, is tall, with a 
very slim, spare figure. His head is very small. Not 
even the extreme length of his great beard could take 
away the insignificance of his appearance occasioned by 
the smallness of his head. He wore a rough black suit. 
His coat was a short sack. His hat was a square topped 
Derby. Viscount Cross, who is the Queen's most con- 
fidential friend, was a perfect picture of the amiable rural 
Methodist parson. He wore gold-bowed spectacles and 
walked about with his hands in the pockets of his loose- 
fitting brown tweed suit. He wore an old white straw 
hat, knocked out of shape by many seasons' wear, 
crowded well down upon the back of his venerable head, 
lie was accompanied by two daughters, who were well 
dressed but very plain-looking. The best-looking man 
on board was the Marquis of Bute. He was stout, with 
square shoulders and figure indicative of strength and 
vigor. He was a great favorite with the ladies and much 
sought after. The majority of the men appeared to be 
worn out. There was a lack of vitality in all of their 
movements. They had the weary, worn, and drawn 
faces of men who have spent years in high living, late 
dining, wakeful nights, studying the baccarat table or 
some other form of noble amusement. 

There were a great many old women in the party, and 
they far exceeded in ugliness the men. There are more 
ugly old women in England probably than in any other 
country on the globe. Indeed, it is rare to see a good- 
looking old woman in England, and the higher their rank 
the uglier they appear. If you chance to see a particu- 
larly ugly old lady you may venture to assume that she 
is at least a duchess without any danger of making a 
mistake. The younger women of the party were very 
plain. There were not over three or four on board 
who could be passed as good-looking in New York. 
This would hardly include the Dowager Duchess of 
Montrose, otherwise known as Mrs. Manton, The belle 



ENGLISH LIFE. 61 

of the ship was the daughter of a Scotch laird. She was 
tall and straight, a regular-featured brunette, but her com- 
plexion was too highly colored and she lacked the easy 
air and graceful manner which are common with women 
of southern latitudes. 

The people on board this boat were very quiet. There 
was no unseemly levity at any time. There were perfect 
decorum and dignity from one end of the ship to the 
other. I do not think I heard from the beginning to the 
close of the day a laugh. They sat about on the decks 
silent and observant and only showed signs of animation 
when the royal yachts were neai. There was as much 
excitement then among these people to see the Queen as 
there was shown in the streets of London when she pa- 
raded on the Jubilee days. There was the same curiosity, 
the same eager dispute about her personal appearance. 
I am told that the Queen is as much an object of curiosity 
with the higher official families as she can possibly be 
with the people. With the exception of the Lord Chan- 
cellor and the Marquis of Bute there was not a single man 
in this entire collection of peers who would attract atten- 
tion among strangers, yet it would have been difficult to 
find anywhere a more civil, polite, well-mannered collec- 
tion of people. During the day there was a number of 
small things happening of an uncomfortable character 
and which might have been avoided with a little more 
care, but there was no grumbling and so little fault- find- 
ing that it is hardly worth mentioning. 



PART II. 



CHAPTER I. 
ROYALTY. 

THE QUEEN STUDY OF HER DAILY LIFE FROM INFORMATION GIVEN 

BY HER INTIMATES — 1IKR TIMIDITY — HER PHYSICAL WEAKNESS 
ANALYSIS OF HER CHARACTER BY AN INTIMATE HER SUM- 
MARY SOCIAL INVITATIONS BY TELEGRAPH — HER WEALTH PER- 

SONAL ANECDOTES AND SKETCHES — THE PRINCESS OF WALES. 

Since the Jubilee year has passed, the Queen has gone 
into more absolute retirement than ever before. It is 
a question whether she ever will break through this re- 
served life, and take part in public ceremonials again as 
she did last year. I have asked a number of people who 
have come in contact with her, to explain her dislike for 
appearing in public in England, and why she led such a 
retired life when in this country. From these people I 
have gathered a number of interesting things concerning 
the private life of the Queen. In the first place she is a 
very timid, nervous woman. She lives in constant an- 
ticipation of some attack upon her life by dynamiters or 
some crazy person. Two attempts have been made upon 
her life while passing through the streets of London, and 
these attempts have produced an indelible impression upon 
her mind. When she went out during the ceremonies of 
last year, she did so with the greatest fear and trembling. 
On Jubilee day itself she fully expected an unkindly de- 
monstration from some one. In the second place, she is 
not strong. It is generally believed by the English peo- 
ple that she still enjoys most vigorous health. The health 



ENGLISH LIFE. 63 

of a sovereign in Europe is such a serious matter, so far 
as it affects other interests, that until actual danger is 
threatened, nothing is said upon the subject. The Queen 
is very stout. She has but little strength. She has to hus- 
band her resources with great care. She never gives this 
weakness as an excuse for declining to take part in public 
ceremonies, and often her refusals are regarded as unkind. 
She is unable to withstand the fatigue of standing through 
one drawing-room. She is nearly always obliged to sit 
after the first half hour, and nearly always is obliged even 
then to retire before the end, calling the Princess of Wales 
to act as her substitute. I have heard a good many un- 
favorable comments made upon the Queen's abruptness 
in leaving a drawing-room, and of the short time which she 
spends in receiving. This criticism comes from people who 
do not know the condition of the Queen's health. She is so 
often known to go out riding in all kinds of weather, that 
every one has come to believe that she has unusual 
health and strength. 

An official who comes into frequent intimacy with the 
Queen has told me that the popular impression concern- 
ing her character was not a correct one. He said : " I 
have noticed that the majority of people believe that she 
is a cold, selfish woman, puffed up with the pride of her 
place, and who is extremely sensitive upon all questions 
relating to her personal dignity." A distinguished Amer- 
ican who was present during this conversation, and who 
has been a guest upon one or two occasion s at Wind- 
sor Castle, several years ago, said that this impression 
was a prevailing one in Ameriea. "I never gave the 
subject much attention," said he, "before coming here ; 
but from casual and careless reading, I had received the 
impression that the Queen was a very uninteresting and 
disagreeable woman. But when I came to meet her, I 
found that this impression was wholly incorrect All 
who have ever been her guests at Windsor Castle unite 
m saying that she is very kindly in private life, and that 
she is anything but stiff and ceremonious in associating 
with those brought under her roof by special invitation. 
She is fond of general conversation, likes a good story, 
and often tells one herself. The dinners at Windsor < 5a9- 
tle, which have been often described as such Stiff and 
disagreeable affairs, arc very nleasant. There is not the 



6 4 ENGLISH LIFE. 

same lightness and easy conversation that there would be 
at a dinner of intimate friends, but the conversation at the 
table is just such as would occur between people of prom- 
inence and position, who are not specially intimate and 
who are dining in a house with a host who is not very 
well known to them. 

The Queen never gives much of any notice to her 
guests. That is the one point of complaint made against 
her. She nearly always summons her guests by tele- 
graph, and on the day when they are expected to be at 
Windsor Castle. The despatch always names the train 
upon which the guests are to depart from London, and 
often a guest so selected will have to hurry in the most 
violent way in order to be able to get his things together 
and make the train. These invitations are regarded as 
commands. They override all other engagements. Any 
one receiving an invitation from the Queen, or any mem- 
ber of the Royal Family, lias a perfectly satisfactory rea- 
son for cancelling any other engagement necessary to its 
acceptance. The Queen sends a carriage and four horses 
guided by postilions, to the station for each guest. The 
dinner hour is always nine o'clock. The guests are 
driven to Windsor Castle on their arrival, where they are 
given a private sitting-room and bed-room. Tea is served 
to them in their sitting-rooms. The guests then dress 
for the dinner ; they all go down to the dining-room at a 
given time, where the Queen stands and receives them. 
They sit at a nod from her and she is the first to give the 
signal to retire from the table. The gentlemen do not re- 
main at the Queen's table after the ladies withdraw, as is 
the English fashion. All of the guests go out together. 
When the dinner is at an end, the Queen rises. All of the 
guests then stand. The Queen then goes around the 
table, and exchanges a few words with each one of her 
guests. She then retires. Then the guests resume their 
places at the table, and remain for a short time before re- 
tiring to their own rooms. All of the dinner guests re- 
main for the night, and leave upon a certain train in the 
morning. The guests are not only told upon which train 
they must come, but they are also notified upon which 
train they are to depart. None of them see the Queen 
after she leaves the dining-room at the dinner. They 
have their breakfasts served to them in their sitting-rooms. 



ENGLISH LIFE. 65 

Occasionally, where the Queen wishes to show a special 
mark of favor to a guest, she will ask him to remain over 
to a later train and visit the mausoleum. But even in the 
enjoyment of this privilege, this specially favored guest 
does not even then see the Queen again. 

The Queen's abritrary commands summoning people 
to dinner come very near, some times, involving her 
guests in embarrassment. An English official, whom I 
quoted in the early part of this article, said that he was 
once in danger of losing the good opinion and good will 
of the Queen through the shortness of notice given by one 
of her telegraphic invitations. He received his invitation 
one day with the scantiest possible time to reach the time 
train. He succeeded, however, and was congratulating 
himself upon his success when his footman from his house 
came tearing down the platform at the railroad station and 
succeeded with great difficulty in throwing a little package 
into the window of his compartment. It was addressed to 
him and it was from his wife who had received the pack- 
age a few moments before. In it was a case containing 
one of the Jubilee medals with a personal request from 
the Queen that he should wear it at this dinner. If it had 
not been for the promptness of his wife and the alertness 
of his servant this guest would have been placed in the 
position of ignoring the command of his Queen and no 
excuse that he could have made would have been re- 
garded as satisfactory. 

The Queen gives a great deal of attention to public 
affairs. It is not generally known to what an extent she 
carries this attention. Every night an abstract of the 
work of the House of Commons is sentto herby telegraph. 
This is done even when she is on the Continent. Every 
important act of the Cabinet is submitted to her. She 
never interferes in anything which is the will of tin- 
House of Commons. At the same time where her ap- 
proval is necessary she will not give it until the subject 
is thoroughly explained to her in all of its be 
While she has never exercised the veto power she yet 
does assert her authority in the matter of appointments, 
this is particularly true in church appointments. 

If it had not been for her steady refusal, Col. Valentine 
Baker would have been restored to the army years ago. 
The War Office favored it and used its entire influence to 
5 



66 ENGLISH LIFE. 

move the Queen. Baker was a skilful officer, a man of 
positive military genius, and the War Office would have 
been only too glad to have got him back into the service. 
The Queen would never consent t<> forgive him. In all 
questions relating to morality the Queen is most uncom- 
promising. She will not tolerate a person at Court whose 
conduct has been thesubject ofserious scandal. It ison ac- 
count of her uncompromising views that no divorced wo- 
man can be received at court. This decision is adhered to 
without any regard to merits of the case. If the woman is 
divorced upon the most proper grounds and she is simply 
a victim in the matter, such circumstances do not change 
the inflexible rule. This is one of the strongest features 
of the Queen's character. Her inflexibility of mind when 
it is once made up, no power, influence, or argument can 
make any impression upon her. 

The Queen has a great fondness for work : she enjoys 
studying public business. She speaks French and German 
as well as she does English. Within the last three or 
four years she has studied Ilindostanee and is now able 
to use that language in giving directions to the Hindoo 
servants on duty at Windsor. Her one amusement is 
water-color sketching. She enjoys also reading but pre- 
fers to have some one of her ladies-in-waiting read to her. 
She never goes to the theatres. Last year she attended 
two shows : that of the Wild West, and one at the Olympic. 
Upon each occasion the exhibition was given solely for 
her benefit The public was not admitted. A great many 
attempts have been made to get the Queen to go to some 
one of the theatres of London, but she will not go. She 
had been tempted once or twice to give a conditional 
promise to come to a concert at the Albert Hall. This 
half promise was secured through the influence of Albani 
who is a great personal favorite of the Queen and who 
is often summoned to Windsor Castle to sing. She ful- 
filled her promise by going to one concert, but she will 
probably not go again. She lives really a most narrow 
and secluded life. It is a life of routine and humdrum, 
with very little in it by the way of excitement or variety. 
She has no general society, and with her fear of appearing 
in public takes no real pleasure in England, outside of her 
castle and grounds at Windsor, or at Balmoral in Scotland. 
She has a large staff of ladies-in-waiting who are continu- 



EXGLISTT LIFE. 6 7 

ally coming and going. One or two of the elder ones are 
her especial favorites. Lady Ely and the Duchess of 
Athol are her two great favorites ; to them, in private life, 
she is not the Queen. 

She is considered one of the richest women in Europe. 
No one appears to have any correct idea of the amount of 
her wealth. She has an income from Parliament of over 
three hundred thousand pounds a year. I have heard her 
income from public and private sources placed as high 
as three millions sterling. She is very quiet in her tastes. 
She is not fond of wearing jewelry. She prefers the 
plainest of dresses. When she is going about the ordinary 
affairs of life she wears black cashmere or soft silk goods, 
devoid of ornament or trimming. It is the dress of a 
respectable lady of the middle class, and is even more 
bare of ornament than the plainest and most simple people 
of that class would average. She has such a dislike for 
display that this taste has been used against her in the 
way of criticism. Some of her critics have accused her of 
misplaced economy. 

The English people are fond of display. They are most 
liberal in their provisions for royalty and everything re- 
lating thereto. They are fond of imposing ceremonials. 
The chief charm to them of royalty is that it is a splendid 
stately ornamental cap-sheaf to their form of government. 
They, therefore, do not take kindly to the Queen's method 
of living. They would much prefer she should squander 
in entertaining and in show, the great sums she has at 
her command. Much of the Queen's income is invested 
in private property all over the world. It will doubtless 
all come to the Prince of Wales, who will know how at 
least to make a more popular use of this .ureal fortune 
which has accumulated during the fifty years of the 
Queen's reign. I have heard her fortune estimated as in 
the neighborhood offorty millions sterling. There is not 
much doubt but what the Prince of Wales will survive his 
mother and that he will some day rule over England as 
king. While he will be the gainer in the way of power and 
position he will yet loseall of the freedom and enjoyments 
of his present position. He will be so hedged in by the 
dignity of the place that he will have as little personal 
freedom as has his mother .at the present time. The Eng- 
lish people would not endure a monarch who did not 



68 ENGLISH LIFE. 

maintain the dignity of his great position as the ruler of 
the greatest nation of Europe. What would be overlooked 
and regarded as a matter of course in the conduct of the 
Prince of Wales would be absolutely unpardoned in the 
conduct of an English king. 

The Princess of Wales is the most popular personage in 
Great Britain. So far as the institution of royalty is con- 
cerned it can be truly said of her that her life is the most 
valuable in the kingdom. So long as she lives her popu- 
larity will be sufficient to keep the cause of royalty well 
protected from innovations. 1 have tried to obtain from 
those who know the Princess of Wales well the secret of 
her great popularity. She is not a brilliant woman, she 
has never written anything, and in conversation she 
never impresses any one with the idea of her having any 
particular originality or striking force of character. If in 
ordinary society, without the advantages of her position, 
she would make but little impression. She is excessively 
ladylike and refined. She has a most marvellous beauty. 
This beaut\- chiefly consists in regular features, a fair com- 
plexion, anda perfectly serene and placid expression. The 
most remarkable feature of her good looks is the preserva- 
tion of her youthful appearance. In the broad glare of 
daylight she looks to-day as young if not younger than 
her eldest daughter. Her figure is also slim and slight as 
that of a young girl. She dresses with exquisite taste and 
appears to enjoy general society very much. The secret 
of her popular charm is said to be this : she has the rare 
and gracious faculty of impressing people who come in 
contact with her in the casual meeting of a general recep- 
tion or a levee. People who have been presented to her 
and who have simply seen her bow and smile, and per- 
haps have heard a half a dozen words of commonplace 
greeting, are the ones who are the most enthusiastic over 
her. Her bearing before the public constitutes her chief 
charm. Every one is led to believe that she is the most 
gracious and winning personage in the kingdom. It is 
this outward suggestion upon the part of the Princess of 
Wales of brilliant graciousness which has captivated and 
thoroughly charmed the British public. Those who know 
her best say that a more intimate acquaintance with her 
does not bear out the public estimate. She is thoroughly 



ENGLISH LIFE. 6 9 

refined, accomplished, and self-possessed, but is not inter- 
esting in a general conversation. 

A distinguished critic who was comparing the character 
of the Queen and that of the Princess of Wales said, "It is 
hard to exactly explain the elements of attraction in men 
and women. Some people you like or dislike at first 
sight without any particular reason. The element of 
personal magnetism explains these likes and dislikes. The 
Princess of Wales possesses this personal magnetism to a 
high degree. She can charm and fascinate any public as- 
semblage simply by her manner. The Queen has none 
of this. She is rather lacking in it, and yet the Queen is a 
much more entertaining and interesting companion in a 
general conversation. In the first place she is a much 
better talker, has more originality, and possesses a fund 
of humor which is entirely lacking in the character of the 
Princess of Wales." 

While I was on the Continent last month I heard a 
number of interesting stories concerning the early life of 
the Princess of Wales. These stories are not particularly 
new and I do not propose to allude to them except to 
give the exact income of her father before he was called 
to the throne of Denmark. This prince lived in the most 
obscure poverty for a number of years. He had an in- 
come of exactly twelve hundred dollars a year ; there 
were five children to be supported and educated from this 
sum. The young ladies of this household learned to cook, 
to sew, and to do all kinds of housework. They were 
obliged to make their own dresses for many years. No 
members of any family so obscurely placed have risen to 
more brilliant positions than this Danish family. The 
head of the family became the King of Denmark. His 
oldest son is, of course, the Crown Prince of that country. 
Another son is the King of Greece. His three daughters 
are the Princess of Wales, the Czarina of Russia, and the 
Duchess of Cumberland. 



7 o ENGLISH LIFE. 



CHAPTER II. 



NOTES CONCERNING THE QUEEN FROM PERSONAL OBSERVATION. 

None of the published pictures of the Queen give a cor- 
rect idea of her — she is so much shorter than her photo- 
graphs represent her. The pictures are productions of a 
photographic trick. In all full-length photographic por- 
traits of the Queen she is posed standing on a raised plat- 
form. The train of her dress is then brought around in 
front so as to conceal the step on which she is standing, 
and by this means she is made to appear fully four inches 
taller than she is. She does not look to be much over 
five feet two inches in height. The effect of even this 
height is lessened by her stoutness. 

I had an opportunity of seeing the Queen upon a num- 
ber of public occasions during the Jubilee year, but at 
none of them did I have such an opportunity as at a 
private exhibition of the Wild West given before the Queen 
last May. The order was very strict that none except 
the regular members of the Wild West company after 
the Queen and her suite should be admitted. Thanks to 
Major Burke, Colonel Cody's lieutenant, and a snow-white 
buckskin suit, I became for the time a member of the 
company, and as such was enabled to stand at the corner 
of the Queen's box and study her at my ease during the 
three quarters of an hour she was present. None of the 
visitors were more plainly dressed than the Queen. She 
rigidly adheres to black cashmere dresses and plain cloth 
capes except upon State occasions. It is said that she 
wears these soft cloths on account of her stoutness. Al- 
though she is so stout she does not look at all apoplectic. 
Her flesh looks as hard as iron. Indeed there is some- 
thing very stolid and wooden-like in her figure and face. 
The photographs, of course, flatter her greatly. I have 
not seen a photograph of her in London which shows a 
wrinkle in her face. She has but few lines in her face, 
but these are very pronounced. She is very full under 
the eyes. She has the "pop eyes " of a voluble talker. 



ENGLISH LIFE. 7 | 

This fulness under the eyes is criss-crossed with wrinkles. 
Her eyes are very large. On each side of her nose are 
two marked lines. There is not a wrinkle in her forehead 
and only a faint line at the corner of each of her eyes. 
Her face shows no sign of care, annoyance or anxiety. 
It is a very cold face and has but little expression except 
when she smiles. Her smile is mechanical and is gener- 
ally accompanied by a little nodding of the head. This 
is a habit which the Prince of Wales also has. Whenever 
he smiles at a friend, the smile is generally followed by 
a series of jerking nods of approval. 

She wore, upon this occasion, a large, square-shaped 
black bonnet, tied by two black ribbons under her heavy 
double chin. Over her black cloth dress she wore a plain 
black cloth coat embroidered with small designs of black 
beads. She has a very clear complexion and very few 
wrinkles in her face for a woman of sixty-nine years of 
age. Her hair is still thick and is only iron gray. Her 
forehead is full and prominent. Her eyes are cold gray- 
blue. Her nose is prominent and Roman in character. 
Her mouth is very determined in its expression. She has 
an air of one who is used to command, but in her manner 
she is as plain and direct as a man. 

Standing slightly in her rear was Princess Beatrice, her 
favorite daughter and constant companion. She is tall 
and much more distinguished-looking than her mother. 
She has a very clear complexion, a high forehead, the 
blue-gray eyes of her mother, and also the same high 
arched nose. She wore an olive-green wrap brocaded in 
darker shade over her dress of light brown cloth. Her 
bonnet was a dainty Parisian shape of the same shade as 
her coat, with lightbrown ribbons. Her husband, Prince 
Henry of Battenberg, a tall, slight, ordinary-looking young 
man, stood just at the back of her, while the Marquis of 
Lome stood upon her right. 

There was a long period of waiting before the Queen 
came. Finally, at '5.15 p.m., a mounted groom, in black 
coat and black top hat and white leather breechesand top 
boots, came dashing down the line as an avant-courier ol 
the royal party. Col. Cody sprang on to his gray horse, 
"Charlie," and fell back into a position oi attention. 
Then there came a carriage with coachman and footman 
in red livery on the box, driving with great rapidity, pre- 



72 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



ceded and followed by outriders. This carriage con- 
tained one of the ladies-in-waiting to the Queen. The 
cowboys thought that this was the Queen, and saluted 
profoundly, and the cowboy band, as this carriage passed 
around the corner, began to play "God Save the Queen." 
But they had not played more than two or three bars 
when they were checked. This false start of the band 
seemed to amuse the cowboys very much. The Indians, 
however, were very grave, and remained standing like 
so many statues. Next came the carriage containing the 
Queen. It was preceded by two outriders mounted on 
bay horses and in liveries like that worn by the first out- 
rider. The Queen's carriage was drawn by four powerful 
bay horses ridden by postilions, who wore mourning 
liveries. The harnesses were very plain, with some light 
gold plating. On the box were two men also in black 
liveries and top-boots, and upon the rear seat of the car- 
riage were two Scotch gillies. Behind the carriage came 
two equerries and two mounted footmen, all mounted on 
bay horses. The carriage was a heavy, plain, open lan- 
dau, devoid of ornament. The Queen sat on the right of 
the carriage, with Princess Beatrice on the left. The 
Queen was at once driven to the royal box. The gates 
were kept closed until she had alighted. 

The box was draped in purple velvet, with a canopy 
upon which the royal arms were embroidered in gold. 

The guests whom she had invited to be present came 
in through the other gates and occupied seats to the right 
and left of the royal box. About forty people in all were 
invited to be present as her guests. Her box was dec- 
orated with flowers. There was also a line of flowers 
and plants in front of the box on the track. In the box, 
besides the Queen, were the Duchess of Athol. Prince 
Henry of Battenburg, Princess Beatrice and the Marquis 
of Lome. It had been threatening rain up to this time, 
but although the clouds hung heavy and gray the rain did. 
not fall. There was, therefore, no hitch in the perform- 
ance. Among the people present was the Earl of 
Latham, the Lord Chamberlain. A group of detectives in 
high hats and black shiny clothes occupied seats well 
down towards the right. The policemen stiffened like 
stakes when the Queen entered the amphitheatre, and 
stood like soldiers on guard all during the performance. 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



73 



The gillies and servants stood with the policemen in the 
central entrance of the amphitheatre, and did not venture 
once to sit down upon any of the vacant seats near 
them. 

The Queen took her seat, and when all of her party- 
were seated she signalled to one of her equerries. He 
nodded to a policeman and the latter touched the arm of 
handsome Richmond, the orator of the Wild West per- 
formance. Richmond then waved a small red flag, and 
the scenery which had parted to admit the Queen and her 
attendants again opened and the voice of Buffalo Bill was 
heard shouting, " Go." Indians and cowboys came dash- 
ing in like the wind, and formed in a parade line on the 
opposite side of the amphitheatre. Then each section of 
the separate tribes dashed to the front and posed in 
picturesque line in front of the Queen. The yelling of 
the Indians, the shouting of the cowboys and the rush of 
the steeds appeared to exercise a perfect fascination on 
the Queen. She put up a pair of glasses and gave her en- 
tire attention to the line, going up and down, until Col. 
Cody came to the front at last and, backing upon his 
graceful horse, bowed in front of her. 

The regular programme was not given, the time of the 
Queen being limited. She said that she could remain 
only until 6. 20. This gave a scant three-quarters of an 
hour. Everything was done with a rush. All the per- 
formers were very nervous, but in spite of their nervous- 
ness they were much more successful than upon the open- 
ing day. 

The war dance interested the Queen more than any 
other feature of the performance. Several of the most 
distinguished chiefs of the party were stripped entirely 
naked except their breech-clouts. When the fervor of 
the dance reached its height their only covering, except 
what has been mentioned, consisted of a coat vl' paint, 
and of a few bracelets. Richmond, the orator, in a pict- 
uresque suit of buckskin and bead-work, with his long 
brown curls floating in the wind, stood just at the left of 
the Queen, outside of the box, and called out hi a clear 
musical voice an explanation of every item of the limited 
bill. Occasionally the Queen would turn to him and ask 
him some question. 

The attack on the cabin was the closing act in the per- 



74 ENGLISH LIFE. 

formance. This was done with great spirit and dash. 
The cowboys and Indians excelled themselves in most 
reckless and daring riding. Buck Taylor, when the 
cavalcade swept down near the royal box, fairly threw 
his horse around into twenty or thirty positions inside of 
a minute. He fired his revolver from under the horse 
and exhibited such lightning-like gymnastic ability as to 
call for a perfect yell of approval from the excitable Major 
Burke, who stood at the right of the royal box inspiring 
the boys with his enthusiasm and fire. 

The Queen did not go. She directed that "Red Shirt" 
and the principal Indian chiefs should be brought to 
where she was. Red Shirt was the first presented. The 
Queen now advanced to the front of the box. Every one 
uncovered as she stood up. I was not over six feet 
distant from the place where Red Shirt was presented. 

The Queen advanced to the opening of the box and 
stood upon the floor, which is about six inches above the 
level of the track. "Red Shirt" advanced and stood 
upon the tan bark. When he was presented by the inter- 
preter the latter was very much overcome, but "Red 
Shirt" remained as self-possessed as the Queen herself. 
He half nodded and smiled. The Queen directed the 
interpreter to say to him that she was glad to see him, 
that she had admired his riding very much, and bade him 
welcome to England. "Red Shirt's" face lighted up 
when this was communicated to him in husky whispers 
by the interpreter. He responded in the gutturals of his 
native language, which the bashful interpreter translated 
in such a feeble tone of voice that the Queen could not 
understand. Orator Richmond, however, repeated the 
phrase so that the Queen heard it. It was as follows : 
" I have come many thousand miles to see you. Now 
that I have seen you, my heart is glad." The Queen 
nodded at this flowery sentence, and "Red Shirt" 
stepped back. 

Then "Yellow-striped Face," the half-breed interpreter, 
was presented, and then came two squaws, mothers of 
the two pappooses in the camp. The little girl pappoose 
was first presented. The Queen patted her cheek with 
her black-silk gloved hand, and then the little thing stuck 
out her brown paw, and the Queen shook it. After this 
the Queen stepped back, but the mother was not content. 



ENGLISH LIFE. ~- 

She walked up and stuck out her hand, and the Queen 
shook hands gravely and bowed. Then the other squaw 
came up and said: "How," and offered her hand, and 
finally a little brown boy papoose came up and offered 
his hand. The Queen shook hands with them all, those 
being the only members of the Wild West party who were 
thus honored. Then Messrs. Cody and Salsbury were 
presented. Both of them bowed gravely, and Col. Cody 
smiled pleasantly at the compliment paid to him by the 
Queen. She told him that she had been very much inter- 
ested, and that his skill was very great. A moment after 
this an equerry signalled for the carriage, and it came 
dashing up. The Queen gave directions to have the 
top of the carriage lowered. She then turned to the 
Marquis of Lome and extended to him her right hand. 
He bent very low and kissed it and then fell back. 

Two Scotch gillies now came forward uncovered. The 
postilions and all of the attendants uncovered ; then the 
carriage steps were let down, and the two gillies helped 
the Queen carefully up every step and did not let her go 
until she was safely seated in the carriage. A heavier 
cloak was put around her and the carriage robes drawn 
up, and then Princess Beatrice took her seat by her 
mother's side. The Duchess of Athol was next helped 
into the carriage, and then came Prince Henry. The 
Queen raised a small black sunshade, the Princess a light 
green one. The Queen turned and bowed one especial 
farewell to Orator Richmond, and then the carriage started 
and in a moment had disappeared from the grounds, pass- 
ing through a great compact crowd waiting outside. 

The Queen is surrounded by elderly people. The 
Duchess of Athol, who was with her at the Wild West 
show, is one of her ladies in waiting. She appeared to 
be very much older than the Queen. She is a little slight 
and bent. She had to be helped into the carriage by the 
two gillies after the Queen had taken her seat. She looked 
so feeble that it seemed as if a breath of wind might blow 
her away. The two gillies were men over fifty years of 
age. The coachman was a grave, smooth-faced man, 
over sixty. Only the postilions and the outriders were 
young men. They had a nervous, seared look, and 
turned white every time the Queen turned her face in 
their direction. That was a noticeable feature to be ob- 



7 6 ENGLISH LIFE. 

served in all those about her. They all appeared nervous. 
The messenger that came in ahead of her was pale to his 
lips with anxiety. The postilions when they drove the 
carriage down through the stables kept turning their heads 
every instant for some reproving signal. When they 
went away there was the same anxiety. Sir Henry Pon- 
sonby, her secretary, who was with her upon this occa- 
sion, is an old man. He was the least nervous of all her 
personal staff. He is a tall, slim, fussy-looking old man. 
He was dressed in a black frock suit, with a black stock 
coming up around a very high collar. His face is a min- 
iature edition of Kaiser Wilhelm. His mustache and 
w hiskers are cut in the exact shape and style of the old Ger- 
man Emperor's. His thin white hair is brushed over a high 
bulging forehead, also in the Wilhelm style. 
• I was out at Windsor Castle the other day and had an 
opportunity of looking over that part of it which is thrown 
open to the public only during the absence of the Queen. 
The rule which she enforces at Windsor with regard to 
seclusion from the public is eminently characteristic. 
Here she has the finest royal residence in the world. Its 
beautiful grounds, the palace and its interior are closely 
guarded from the public which bought and paid for all 
this splendor and beauty, except when they are opened 
a few days in the year during the Queen's absence. The 
portion of the castle which is shown to the public during 
this absence could, without in any way infringing upon 
the privacy of the Queen, be shown to the public at any 
time. When the Queen is actually in the castle the rooms 
occasionally opened to the public, are never entered by 
her except upon special state occasions. The beauty and 
the peaceful quiet of the surroundings at Windsor are so 
great that it is not to be wondered at that the Queen pre- 
fers the life there to the dingy and damp atmosphere of 
the palaces in London. 



ENGLISH LIFE. ?7 



CHAPTER III. 

A PEN PICTURE OF THE PRINCE OF WALES — AN ANALYSIS OF 
HIS CHARACTER AND A CORRECT ESTIMATE OF HIS IN- 
DIVIDUALITY. 

I saw the Prince of Wales last Sunday afternoon driving 
towards Kensington. He was in a private hansom. He 
was dressed in plain black ; his coat was a single-but- 
toned cutaway made of the soft, rough cloth now so 
fashionable in London for morning coats ; his hat was 
black silk; his tie at his throat was a dark blue, with a 
light polka-dot running over it. He wore no gloves. He 
leaned with one hand upon a tightly rolled silk umbrella, 
while the other hand crossed and rested easily upon the 
one supported by the umbrella stick. The hansom cab 
was dark blue with a light white line traced upon its 
paneling. There was no coat-of-arms upon the cab to 
indicate its belonging to the royal stables. The horse 
was a dark bay, strong, clean, and powerful. The 
harness was black and absolutely devoid of ornament. 
The man who sat in the driver's seat wore a high silk 
hat ornamented with a black cockade. His coat was 
a dark blue with blue buttons. A square, white craval 
was at his throat. Mis breeches were white, and skin 
tight, buttoning at the knee above a pair of black top-boots. 
The Prince was smoking a cigarette and was apparently 
lost in contemplation of the rich greens and shifting colors 
of the vast stretch of Hyde Park at his right. He wa 
driving along at the rate of eight miles an hour. He sal 
so far back in the hansom that few noticed him. If he 
had been recognized generally there would have been 
much hat-lifting and cheering. 



7 8 ENGLISH LIFE. 

There is no more interesting man in England than the 
Prince of Wales. Wherever he goes he is the central 
figure. His popularity is very great. You rarely hear 
even the mildest criticism of him, even in the most radi- 
cal circles. There is no man in England more sensitive 
to criticism or personal comment than the Prince of Wales. 
He was very much vexed at the comments of the English 
press upon his visit to a club where Sullivan and other 
boxers appeared. He is so averse to every form of news- 
paper criticism that there is scarcely a newspaper in Lon- 
don which does not respect his wishes in this regard as 
strictly as do the Berlin papers the wishes of Prince Bis- 
marck. Only in Berlin Bismarck has autocratic author- 
ity to back up his wishes, while the Prince of Waies's 
power is entirely social. This social influence is one of 
the most powerful in London. Nearly all the London 
editors and publishers are very ambitious of social suc- 
cess and conduct their papers with the view of furthering 
their social ambitions. I have been told over and over 
again by writers for the English press that they nearly all 
write with fear and trembling anything for publication. 
To offend any member of the aristocracy is enough to 
secure the discharge of almost any writer. 

This timidity towards those high in social authority 
has given great prominence to the boldness of the policy 
of T. P. O'Connor's newspaper, the Star, which has made 
all journalistic London shudder by his free criticism of 
the Prince of Wales for his carrying on a rather too loud 
conversation in a box at the Varieties Theatre recently. 
Mr. O'Connor's criticism was very mild indeed, but the 
fact that he has cared to criticise at all is what has created 
the sensation. 

During the year which I have now nearly finished in 
England I have had many opportunities of seeing the 
Prince of Wales. I was formally presented to him by 
the Minister last spring and saw him then for one hour, 
watching him receive the official crowd of London. Dur- 
ing the year I have seen him at a number of public occa- 
sions and at a few private gatherings where he was more 
off guard. I have talked freely with those who know 
him and who are brought into intimate contact with him. 
From these various sources I have gathered a general 
idea of him which differs essentially from anything I have 



EXGLISII LIFE. 



79 



ever read about him. I shall give it for what it is worth, 
as a summary of the evidence concerning him from those 
who should at least know him well. 

It is difficult to get a correct estimate of a man holding 
high position in the European world from the evidence 
alone of those who are immediately associated with him. 
They always exaggerate the good qualities and ignore en- 
tirely the faults; but I have been fortunate enough during 
the year to become acquainted with several gentlemen, 
who, while they are not officially connected with the 
Prince of Wales, have had abundant opportunities of en- 
joying an intimate acquaintance with him, and are there- 
fore able to give a correct and unprejudiced idea of his 
real character. From the different views given me by 
these gentlemen, I have been able to obtain certain out- 
lines of character upon which they all agree. 

In the first place, the Prince of Wales is eminently adroit 
and possesses tact in the highest sense of the word. He 
is extremely sensitive to public opinion. He is keenly 
alive to the progress of modern ideas. He realizes, as 
much as does any man in England, that the distinctions 
of caste and class and even the prestige of royalty are 
rapidly passing away before the uprising tide of demo- 
cratic spirit among the English people. He fully under- 
stands that royalty and the institutions immediately con- 
nected with it depend for their future existence upon its 
making concessions to this popular advance and to keep- 
ing touch, so far as possible, with popular sympathies. 
There is no man of high rank in England who studies the 
public as does the Prince of Wales. It is in this that he 
has shown his greatest ability. The fact that he is to- 
day one of the most popular men in England is not owing 
to the fact that he is the heir-apparent to the throne. It is 
due simply to his conduct in his position. He holds him- 
self aloof from no class. He cultivates every element of 
English social life. He has even identified himself with 
the commercial class. For several years he has acted as 
Treasurer of the Inner Temple, bringing himself in close 
relations with the legal profession, lie constantly studies 
to bring himself in close contact with the active, pushing 
dominating business elements of England. He canal- 
ways be relied upon to assist at any public demonstration. 
He can always be had to assist at all meetings and ga- 



80 ENGLISH LIFE. 

therings for the benefit of the public. Hospitals, churches, 
public buildings of all kinds find in him ready assistance, 
real business tact, and energy in helping them to carry 
out their objects. 

He is a splendid politician. He has the rare quality of 
never forgetting a name or a face. There is no man in 
Europe who has a more remarkable memory for names 
and faces than he. This has been tested over and over again. 
People whom he has met casually and with whom he has 
exchanged but a few words have been very much sur- 
prised to be recognized by him several years afterwards. 
This is undoubtedly a very strong element in his charac- 
ter so far as popularity is concerned. 

He possesses very easy manners. It by no means fol- 
lows that a person because he occupies a high position is 
therefore a person of easy manners or good appearance in 
general company. I saw the Prince of Wales in contrast 
with four of the reigning sovereigns of Europe and several 
Crown Princes at a private exhibition of the " Wild West " 
last summer. The Prince was the only one who ap- 
peared really easy and thoroughly self-possessed. The 
others were, to a certain extent, stiff, cold and awkward 
in their movements and expressions. The Prince of 
Wales is noted for his politeness and for this happy ease 
of manner. Several months ago the Prince of Wales was 
surprised by receiving from the village of Brookline, Mass. 
a superb clock. It was a most beautiful piece of work- 
manship, and it now adorns one of the rooms at Marl- 
borough House. This present came from an anonymous 
American admirer. When the clock was received at 
Marlborough in the package was also a letter which said 
that the gift was a "humble token of gratitude for the 
Prince's kindness and courtesy in picking up the cane of 
a cripple." 

The Prince has been very much exercised over this 
peculiar present and epistle. He has vainly sought to 
recall to mind such an act as is described in the letter. 
During the Jubilee year there were a great many public 
ceremonials, and he faintly recalls passing through a line 
of spectators at one of the ceremonials last spring and 
noticing a lame gentleman who, in his embarrassment in 
attempting to get out of the way of the Prince, dropped 
his cane, Of course, the natural thing for him was to 



ENGLISH LIFE. 81 

pick it up, restore it to its owner, and pass on. The 
Prince has vainly sought to find out the name of the giver 
of the present so that he might suitably acknowledge it. 
He has even gone so far as to ask prominent Americans 
to help him discover the gentleman who sent him the 
clock. Perhaps this publication may assist in bringing 
him to light. 

The Prince cannot be called a great man. He is not a 
student of books. He is a most excellent judge of human 
nature, and may be said to be a graduate in the science of 
the study of man. He forms the most accurate judg- 
ments concerning people. He nearly always estimates 
people near him at their full value, although this estimate 
may not be shown in his conduct towards them. Some- 
times his near friends will think that he is deceived in 
people with whom he happens to associate for the time, 
but when they come to talk with him privately they very 
soon learn that he understands fully the character of the 
people with whom he is dealing. He often permits peo- 
ple to be intimate with him for a time for no other reason 
than amusement. He finds a special amusement in peo- 
ple of absurd pretensions, and is inclined to humor these 
pretensions to the top of their bent. 

One of the most successful qualities of the Prince's 
character is his ability to make a good public address. 
He is not an eloquent man. None of his speeches are at 
all out of the ordinary way. You might read them all 
through and you would not find in them a single sentence 
remarkable for its beauty or originality. But these 
speeches are always short, simple, plain and unpreten- 
tious. They are keyed in the note of perfect good taste, 
and never fail to please the audience to which they arc 
addressed. These addresses are always carefully adapted 
to the people to whom they are spoken. They fit into 
the occasion. The Prince is very careful and very happy 
in all of his local allusions. The fact that he is the Prince 
of Wales would not make his speeches go if they were not 
masterpieces of tact. The English public is only too 
ready to criticise the public utterance of those high in 
place. The fact that the Prince of Wales is able to avoid 
public criticism in the main is owing to his discretion and 
his diplomatic tact. There is to-day in England a very 
high official personage who makes much better speeches 



82 ENGLISH LIFE. 

than the Prince of Wales, who is much more eloquent, 
and who is much more original, but he never makes a 
public address at any time or place without creating a 
number of enemies and involving himself in the most 
disagreeable personal criticisms on account of his lack 
of the all-predominating characteristic of the Prince of 
Wales — that of tact. 

The Prince of Wales takes no part in politics. He has 
never voted but once in the House of Peers, and this was 
upon the act for the bill authorizing marriage between a 
man and his dead wife's sister. He knows that royalty 
in England owes its strength to its occupying a neutral 
position, and that it would be soon endangered if it were 
.to be embroiled with political factions. He does not ex- 
press opinions upon political subjects, even among his 
most intimate associates. Two years ago he gave a din- 
ner at Marlborough House which no other English gen- 
tleman could have succeeded in giving. He gathered 
there a company which could not have been brought to- 
gether under the roof of any other house. At this dinner- 
table there were forty-two guests. It is extremely diffi- 
cult to get together in England, under any circumstances, 
such a large number of prominent people, for the reason 
of the multiplicity of engagements of such persons. But 
the invitation of the Prince of Wales being a royal com- 
mand overrules all other invitations, and so he was able 
to bring together at this dinner all of the representative 
elements of English society. He took a particular de- 
light in this dinner, because he had brought there the 
leaders of factions who had been fighting each other with 
the greatest intensity and bitterness for years. The ex- 
treme Tory and the most vigorous Home-Ruler, the rep- 
resentatives of the highest aristocracy and the most ex- 
treme Radical, high church dignitaries and eloquent dis- 
senters, the legal profession and even the city were taken 
into this gathering. The Prince, in the seating of his 
guests, placed the opposing elements side by side. Mr. 
Gladstone, who was an honored guest at this dinner, was 
seated between two of the most furious Tories in Great 
Britain, one of them, a high church dignitary, who had 
often said that he would be reconciled if a thunderbolt 
from God struck Gladstone down. The gentleman who 
gave me the picture of this dinner, said that the arrange- 



ENGLISH LIFE. 83 

merit of these guests afforded a striking illustration of one 
of the most prominent elements in the Prince's character. 
He hates factions and is always seeking to harmonize. 
In giving this dinner he practically said, "Gentlemen, 
differ as you will as to the method of conducting the 
public affairs of England, but do not let these differences 
carry you so far as to forget that you are Englishmen, 
and that upon the subject of England herself you should 
always stand united and harmonious." 

The Prince speaks the French language as well as he 
does his own. He also speaks the German language, 
but' not as fluently. He manages to keep well informed 
of what is in the London newspapers. Sometimes he 
glances through them himself, but usually one of his 
equerries looks through them and tells him what is in the 
papers, and if there is any special thing which attracts 
his notice he may give it his personal attention. He is 
particularly fond of amusing gossip and what contributes 
to entertain. The point of criticism made against the 
Prince by those who know him best is that he is not 
serious-minded enough. They say that for a man of his 
years he is too fond of mere amusement for amusement's 
sake. He is passionately fond of being amused, and is 
rather reckless of where he goes in seeing such entertain- 
ments. He is rather careless in this regard and labors 
sometimes under the delusion that he can go to certain 
places in London without the fact of his going there be- 
ing known. For instance, he will go to any one of the 
music halls of London whenever he happens to feel in- 
clined. There is no form of theatrical entertainment 
given in London which may not receive a visit from him 
if there is the slightest chance of his being amused when 
he goes there. He goes to many places of this character 
that none of the officers of the Government could afford 
to visit. He does things every day in the way of picking 
up acquaintances or in visiting places of amusement that 
not a single member of the Cabinet would dream of doing. 
But this trait of character does not lessen in the slightest 
degree his popularity. If anything, it increases it. There 
is no class of people in the world fonder of amusement 
than the English, and those who arc restrained by dignity 
or serious-mindedness I have no doubt envy the Prince 
his reckless carelessness in going about hunting for means 



8 4 ENGLISH LIFE. 

to kill dull time. There is hardly any night when he is 
in town that he is not at some one of the theatres of 
London. He is an inveterate theatre-goer, and is not at 
all blase. He appears to enjoy every good point in the 
performance as much as if he were a provincial upon his 
first visit to London. In this regard he very much re- 
sembles our amiable Gen. Sherman, who is one of the 
most enthuiastic admirers of the stage that we have in the 
United States. 

The Prince of Wales is an enthusiastic admirer of pretty 
women. An Old World cynic, in speaking to me of this 
trait said, " People in general society are never charitable 
when a man at the age of forty-five with grown-up children 
pays much attention to young and pretty women. People 
always put anything but an innocent construction upon 
such attentions. Young people can flirt as they please 
without any one thinking much of it ; but when elderly 
married people enter the field of flirtation they are never 
credited with innocent intentions." This same worldly- 
wise critic went on to say he did not believe that the 
Prince of Wales had been a saint in the past, but that it 
could not be said of him to-day that his life was not one 
of propriety in the ordinary acceptation of the word. He 
lives in such a glare of light and of attention that nearly 
all of his movements are subject to criticism and exag- 
geration. "Now it must be said of him in connection 
with his attentions to pretty women that it is always open 
and avowed. His attentions are always public attentions. 
It he admires for a time a pretty face it is simply on ac- 
count of the pleasure he takes in the society of handsome 
and refined women. I do not think that he is absolutely 
alone in this liking ; but he is avowedly frank in letting 
every one know of his predilections in this direction. I 
think that such frankness argues the most innocent of 
motives. If he were pursuing an intrigue he certainly 
would be able to conduct it in private and ignore the ob- 
ject of it in public. He has been involved in no scandal 
for years. He has been under the sharp and critical eye 
of English society for many years without being con- 
spicuous in anything more than chaffing and gossiping 
and comment upon his attentions to the many pretty 
women who come and go in London society." 

There is much jealousy in high circles. Those who 



ENGLISH LIFE. 85 

enjoy the friendly favor of the Prince of Wales often have 
to pay for that by being made the subjects of unkind 
criticism. There is no pretty woman among the foreign 
residents who can receive attention from him and escape 
a certain kind of criticism which is not pleasant for a 
modest woman. It makes no difference how innocent 
and how well-meaning are the attentions of the Prince. 
There are very few American women who come to Lon- 
don who appear to appreciate this. Nearly all of the so- 
ciety women of the United States who come to London 
aspire to become members of the Prince of Wales' set, and 
appear to be perfectly indifferent as to the penalty which 
they have to pay for entering into that society. 

There is one American lady in London who fully un- 
derstands the disadvantage of even an acquaintance with 
the Prince of Wales, and this, too, without in the slightest 
degree improperly estimating him or his character. Miss 
Mary Anderson, who has made such a great success both 
artistically and socially, has never yet met the Prince of 
Wales. She has been asked by friends of the Prince of 
Wales to be presented to him, but has always refused, 
saying that she fully understood the disadvantage to any 
actress or any lady of position having her name connected 
with that of the Prlace of Wales. The disadvantage lies 
wholly in the public criticisms and the popular view of 
the motives of the actress in seeking his acquaintance. 
Even the disadvantage is all upon the side of the actress. 
The Prince has the entire world open to him for friends 
and companions. The actress, upon the other hand, is 
as constantly before the public, so far as her conduct is 
concerned, while her life is of a necessity within limited 
lines. 

The Prince is very charitable, although his income is 
limited considering the requirements of his position. He 
is always giving to the right and to the left. The extent 
to which his contributions are carried was shown the 
other day, when an American who had been borrowing 
money all over London for the alleged purpose of buying 
a ticket to go home called in the course of his wander- 
ings at the Office of Marlborough House. Although this 
man had become a mere confidence man and a swindler, 
he yet had letters from one or two representative Ameri- 
cans giving him the character of an honest man. The 



86 ENGLISH LIFE. 

Minister of the United States received the day after the 
call of this beggar at Marlborough house a letter from 
the Secretary of the Prince of Wales saying that such an 
American had applied to him for assistance, and that if 
the Minister would say he was all right (the man having 
given him as a reference) that the Prince would like to 
send him two guineas. The Minister happened to know 
that he was anything but all right, and at once notified 
the Prince in time to save the money. It was this same 
impostor who succeeded in obtaining so much money 
from people in high places that the Legation had to ad- 
vertise him in the newspapers to protect the English pub- 
lic from further imposture. 

The regular allowance of the Prince of Wales by Par- 
liament is £40,000 a year, to which must be added £10,- 
000 more which is annually allowed to the Princess. He 
receives a further annual income of £60,000 to £70,000 
from the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, which is 
his by birthright. His income in round numbers is about 
$500,000 a year. He spends every penny of it and is 
often reported as being in debt, although of late not so 
much of this kind of talk is heard. It is said that the 
Queen makes him some kind of allowance, as he bears 
nearly the whole brunt of the royal entertaining. 

The Prince is in his forty-ninth year. He is scarcely 
five feet seven, and has become quite stout. He must 
weigh fully 180 pounds. He dresses very neatly, but 
plainly. It cannot be said that he is now a leader of 
fashions. That leadership has passed to his son, Prince 
Albert Victor. 

The Prince spends the fall in his country house at San- 
dringham, the early winter in the south of France, the 
social season of the spring and early summer in London, 
and the midsummer on the Continent. 

He enjoys life and is less burdened with cares than any 
of the high-placed men of Europe. 



ENGLISH LIFE. 87 



CHAPTER IV. 

PERSONAL NOTES CONCERNING THE ROYAL PERSONAGES WHO 
VISITED ENGLAND LAST YEAR. 

I saw the chief royal personages who visited London 
last year upon the occasion of the Queen's Jubilee in one 
group at another private entertainment of the Wild West. 
There was not a striking-looking person in the group 
wim the exception of the Prince of Wales. The King of 
Saxony is a very ordinary-looking man. He has the 
appearance of a retired merchant with a small income 
who lives a peaceful, narrow life. He is of medium 
height, with sloping, round shoulders. His hair is gray ; 
his complexion sallow ; his eyes cold gray-blue ; his 
nose large and straight ; a snowy-white mustache and 
white side-whiskers concealed in a measure the weak 
character of the lower part of his face. He wore a black 
frock suit with a light spring overcoat buttoned up tightly 
to his chin. His hat was a high silk one ; his gloves 
were dark yellow. He very rarely spoke and appeared to 
be half asleep. He was one of the first to move away 
from the performance, although the shouts at one time 
appeared to wake him up. 

The King of Belgium was the most forceful-looking of 
the visiting sovereigns. He was tall, straight, with a full 
chest and broad shoulders. His hair is a dark brown- 
black, and when he lifted his high hat to some of the 
princesses as they arrived, I saw that it was parted 
exactly in the middle. His eyes were dark, set deeply 
under very straight eyebrows. His nose was straight ; 
a full, sweeping brown mustache and very full brown 
beard descended upon the breast of his black frock suit. 
He wore a dark overcoat ; on his hands brown gloves. 
He was very formal and very stiff in his movements. 
Although there were not above twelve or fifteen persons 
present as spectators outside of the royal personages, 
the Belgian King moved exactly as if he were upon 
dress parade. He is a frequent visitor to England. His 



88 ENGLISH LIFE. 

son is said to be a suitor for the hand of one of the daugh- 
ters of the Prince of Wales. He is received with great 
favor in England ; he is seeking to establish close relations 
with the English Government because he fears that his 
country is being threatened by the prospect of a re- 
newal of the struggle between the French and the Ger- 
mans. 

The King of Denmark is tall, with a broad, compact 
figure. He wore a high hat similar to that worn by all of 
the royalties, and the same dark frock suit. He has the 
face of a sea captain ; his complexion is very red, his 
face has not much expression and his features are irregu- 
lar. He wears a mustache and side-whiskers, which are 
of an iron-gray color. His shaved chin is square and 
positive in its lines. There is nothing about any one of 
these royal personages, with the exception of the Prince 
and Princess of Wales, to suggest their holding high pos- 
itions. The King of Denmark might have been the captain 
of a merchant ship on shore on leave. The King of Den- 
mark, as everybody knows, has seen hard times. He 
was, until his elevation to the throne of Denmark in 1863, 
very poor. He did not evidently have the ability himself 
to conquer any favors from fortune. He was obliged to 
live in the most narrow and economical ways. Then 
came the change in his life of so great a character as to 
suggest the wand of the magician in the fairy tales. From 
poverty and obscurity he reached the throne, while three 
of his children occupy the most prominent places in the 
royal circles of Europe — one daughter is the Empress of 
Russia, a second the Princess of Wales, while his third 
child is King of Greece. His fourth daughter is the un- 
fortunate Duchess of Cumberland. His sixth son is married 
to the daughter of the Due De Chartres. His son, the 
King of Greece, who stood near his father, is very tall and 
slim, with a dull, heavy face, sleepy, blue eyes, thick, 
straight nose, and a drooping, brown mustache. You 
would find hundreds of more distinguished and better- 
looking young men in almost any of the business offices 
in New York. 

The Princess of Wales is the most interesting member 
of this Danish family. She looks every inch a Princess. 
In the first place she is very handsome, with regular 
features, fresh, clear, plain complexion, and a dainty man- 



ENGLISH LIFE. 89 

ner of refinement, which is her chief charm. Her figure 
is as slim and graceful as that of a young girl. She 
dresses with the air and grace of a Frenchwoman, while 
she has a dignified carriage and the manners of reserved 
Northern people. She has as democratic tendencies as 
her husband, she is as fond of appearing in public as he, 
and if Royalty continues in England after the death of the 
Queen, its continuance will be owing largely to the pop- 
ularity of the Prince and Princess of Wales. They are 
popular with people simply because they take pains to 
please. The Princess of Wales was one of the later ar- 
rivals at this morning's performance. She came walking 
down the platform in front of the grand stand in company 
with Major John E. Burke, the agent of Cody. The three 
little princesses preceded their mother. These three 
young ladies are very plain. They have none of the 
beauty of their mother, neither have they the ease or 
vivacity of their parents. They are plain, stiff, young 
English girls, who never speak unless they are spoken to, 
and who stand about in a stolid way that no American 
girl could by any possibility assume, least of all when in the 
presence of such an exciting entertainment as that of the 
Wild West. The Prince of Wales was the only man in the 
group who was at all easy in his manners. He wore a 
light gray frock suit, with a drab overcoat, buttoned up 
tight to his throat. There was a pink rose in the short 
lapel of his overcoat. He wore a high white hat, which 
was the only white hat in the group. White hats are not 
popular in London, and even the powerful influence of the 
Prince of Wales upon London fashions is not sufficient to 
make the London swells wear these white hats, except 
for country drives and for visits at country places. 

I do not think there was a funnier sight than that where 
the Princess of Wales came forward with the sweep of a 
schoolgirl and climbed into the Deadwood coach without 
any assistance. Then the King of Saxony and the King 
of Greece climbed in after her. The Crown Prince of 
Sweden was on the box and Prince George of Wales, a 
dashing young naval officer, was upon the back part of 
the coach. Prince Albert Victor of Wales, the heir^ap- 
parent to the English throne after the Prince of Wales, 
sat inside the coach and puffed cigarettes alternately in 
his mother's face and in that of the King of Denmark. 



go ENGLISH LIFE. 

Indeed, smokers who have been restricted for their lack 
of manners in enjoying- the weed in the presence of 
ladies would have plenty of examples to justify their 
course among the royal members of this group. All of 
the men smoked their cigars or cigarettes. The smoke 
was puffed straight into the faces of the ladies of the 
group without apology from the smokers or protest upon 
their part. With the exception of the Prince and Princess 
of Wales, who are always graceful and easy, I think that 
this group of royal personages made up the most stiff and 
awkward-appearing group of people that I have ever seen 
in public together. 

Mr. Cody, when he was presented to them, appeared 
much easier and more at home than any of the members 
of this distinguished group. Another very good sight of 
the morning was the riding of the royalties on the switch- 
back railroad. In one of the cars which pitched up and 
down the inclines there sat the four visiting kings, the 
Princess of Wales, her three daughters and two sons. 
The four kings sat up as solemn and as stiff as so many 
wooden men. The only movement made by any one of 
them was an occasional clutch at their high hats. Prince 
Albert Victor puffed his eternal cigarette even during this 
exciting ride, but it was the Prince and Princess of Wales 
who appeared to enjoy this part of the performance the 
most She held up both her hands and gave a real fem- 
inine scream of delight as the car plunged up and down 
the course of this switchback railroad. The Princess of 
Wales came out very often in the morning for the 
crowd at the Wild West show and appeared to enjoy the 
freedom and absence of formality that she encountered 
among the managers of this exhibition. Major John E. 
Burke was a great favorite of hers and treated her exactly 
as he would Mrs. Smith. When I saw him walking with 
her at the performance he kept his broad-brimmed hat 
upon his head from first to last. He slightly lifted it as 
she first approached, but he did not uncover, as did some ot 
the people connected with this show in the presence of 
the royalties. 

The Duke of Cambridge is one of the most noticeable 
figures in the royal circle of England. I had a front seat 
within a few feet of the platform where all of the royal- 
ties were assembled upon the occasion of the laying of 



ENGLISH LIFE. g t 

the corner-stone of the Jubilee Institute, and so had a 
good opportunity for inspecting- the notables who were 
present on that occasion. The Duke of Cambridge very- 
much resembles Gen. Sherman in his inability to remain 
quiet for any length of time. He was continually rush- 
ing about, and from the beginning to the close of the cer- 
emonies he did not once sit down. This nominal Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the English army is very tall. He is 
over six feet in height, but there is a slight stoop in his 
shoulders which detracts from his military bearing. His 
head is large and nearly bald ; the little hair which he 
has left is combed in thin gray wisps over the top of his 
tapering skull. About the base of his neck his hair is 
still quite thick ; his forehead is full and lined with wrin- 
kles ; his eyebrows are bushy and beetling, standing out 
like a thick hedge round a pair of blue, good-natured look- 
ing eyes. His cheek bones are high and red. His nose 
is large, bulging and very irregular in shape. It is not 
an aristocratic nose. I have seen genial London cabmen 
with similar noses — cabmen who had been exposed to 
the weather for many years. A pale, iron-gray mustache 
and thick, close-cropped side whiskers set off the broad 
full face of the Duke. His chin is double. He wore 
upon this occasion a skin-tight, flaming scarlet full dress 
coat. There was very little gold lace upon the coat. 
A heavy gold ornamented belt encircled his ponderous 
figure. A light blue sash over his left shoulder stood out 
in striking contrast against the scarlet background of the 
coat. Pink skin-tight breeches met his high patent-leather 
boots at the knee ; a black cocked hat with a white plume 
he carried under his left arm. I constantly heard friend- 
ly comments from English admirers of the Duke. Said 
one: "Oh, he is so h affable." The fact that this distin- 
guished personage could smile was constantly dwelt up- 
on as a proof of his most remarkable amiability. 

The Marquis of Salisbury, the Prime Minister, who 
stood at the head of the group of Ministers near the roy- 
alties, was looking very tired and worn. He is said to 
be very much worried over the political situation and is 
beginning to feel that power is slipping away from him. 
He is about the same figure as the Duke of Cambridge ; 
he is equally tall, equally stout, ami has about the same 
stoop in his shoulders. His head, however, is nearly 



92 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



twice as large. He has the strong, sleepy features of a 
man of power — the unmistakable countenance of a states- 
man. His head is very round and full ; he is even more 
bald than the Duke of Cambridge. Indeed, it is the ex- 
ception where an English public man is not bald very 
early in life. Of all the royalties grouped together on the 
day of this institute there was not a single man who had 
a good crop of hair on the top of his head. The Marquis 
of Salisbury has a heavy, ponderous look of fatigue and 
indifference. His face only lights up in a sluggish way 
when he is engaged in conversation. His complexion is 
quite sallow for an Englishman. He has a very broad, 
full forehead, deeply set dark eyes, a straight nose, a 
broad, full face, the lower part of which is concealed by 
a silky brown beard and mustache. Underneath his eyes 
he has the full, puffy look indicative of volubility in speech. 
The lines underneath his eyes are very deep. There is a 
bluish tinge underneath the lids — signs of fatigue and 
worry. All of the Cabinet Ministers were in uniform. 
This uniform is very handsome and becoming. The 
coat is military cut, with a high standing collar. This 
collar is brocaded with a heavy gold arabesque figure. 
The coat is buttoned with a single row of gold buttons 
as snugly about the figure as the uniform of a Life Guards- 
man. The cuffs on the sleeves are ornamented in the 
same way as the collar. On the hips there are flaps in- 
dicating pockets. These flaps are covered with gold 
ornamentations. Broad gold stripes follow the line of 
the flowing wide trousers. This uniform from its sim- 
plicity and dark color, is very becoming. The various 
members of the Cabinet wore upon the breasts of their 
coats the orders to which they were entitled. 

A similar style of court dress is worn by a large number 
of the civil officials of the Government. Indeed, every 
official improves an opportunity to cut the black evening 
dress ordinarily worn in private life. They retain in 
England in every possible way the picturesque dress of 
the past. The heralds and the knights who preceded the 
Queen upon the occasion I have just mentioned were 
dressed exactly as they were three hundred years ago. 
The advocates, the high law-court officers of England, 
wear to-day upon all official occasions the dress of sev- 
eral centuries ago. The barristers who plead before the 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



93 



courts wear the wig and gown of the past. They adhere 
to this traditional dress with the most remarkable tenacity. 
I have asked numbers of the legal profession if they do 
not object to wearing these wigs and gowns. Their re- 
ply has been in the negative, saying that they would not 
upon any account give them up. This retention of all of 
the picturesque costumes of the past adds great interest to 
the general effect of nearly every public gathering from 
the spectacular and artistic point. 

The Indian princes were prominent figures in the Jubi- 
lee groups. Mr. Blaine said when in London that the 
scenes of the royal festivities carried his mind back for 
several hundred years to the time when royalty paraded 
the streets with its most conspicuous captives displayed 
as a living evidence of the skill and valor of the royal con- 
querors. These Indian princes are subjugated vassals of 
the British Government. They are paid every considera- 
tion, but still they have lost their great power, and it is a 
question how well satisfied these very proud Orientals 
are with their subordinate position. Their countenances 
are as impassive and cold as those of the North American 
Indians. They have taken part in the public ceremonies 
of the day and show no surprise, emotion or pleasure. 
They are stolid, indifferent, resplendent in their Oriental 
dress, adorned with all of the jewels of the heroes of the 
"Arabian Nights" tales. They rarely talk among them- 
selves when in public. They are critical, observant, but 
very unresponsive to every advance made to them. 

The two royal princesses from India who belong to this 
Oriental group, appeared only upon the occasion of the most 
stately ceremonials. They do not attend at any of the 
public places where the princes go seeking amusement. 
I saw yesterday the two princesses seated just in front of 
the Queen at the ceremony of the laying of the corner- 
stone of the "Jubilee Institute. The Maharani of Kuch 
Behar is slight in figure, with a clear yellow-brown com- 
plexion, straight regular features, flashing black eyes, full 
red lips which, when they parted, disclosed the most 
dazzling white teeth. She wore about her crinkled mane 
of hair a filmy white veil which twisted twice about her 
head round her dusky hair, falling in soft waves upon her 
dark, lustreless black silk dress. Near her was the Kan- 
warani Harnam Singh. She looked more like a pure ne- 



94 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



gress ; she had the thick lips and pale pupils and the yel- 
low-hued eyeballs of the mulatto. The officer attached to 
her husband's staff was a pure negro. He was just such 
a boy as might be found in any barber shop in Washing- 
ton. His head was covered with short, tightly twisted 
wool, through which a narrow parting had been shaved. 
A slight black mustache shaded his thick lips. He had a 
good straight figure. He was buttoned up closely to the 
throat in a dark blue uniform, heavily embroidered with 
gold, skin-tight white breeches, and high patent leather 
boots completed his uniform. There was a haughty look 
of pride and resolution upon this negro's face which was 
greater than that seen upon the countenance of any of his 
chiefs. Upon his right sat a fair, lily-faced blonde of the 
purest Anglo-Saxon type. Her features were daintily 
regular, the color upon her cheeks was a real peach-blos- 
som. Her hair was the color of a wheat sheaf ; her wil- 
lowy, graceful figure showed to its full advantage in a 
tightly fitting dress of the most delicate heliotrope color. 
She is one of the most prominent of the society belles in 
London. She was as politely attentive to this negro of- 
ficer as if he had been a white prince of the most royal 
blood. There was an air of intimacy and perfect equality 
between the two hard for any one to understand who has 
seen the negro only in the United States. 



PART III. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS. 

THE GREAT LONDON DAILIES THEIR PECULIAR FEATURES — ■ 

SOCIETY JOURNALS ENGLISH AND AMERICAN NEWSPAPER 

METHODS THE PRESS CLUB. 

The great newspapers of London have character and 
dignity. Their editorial pages contain their best writ- 
ings. These editorial articles are generally long drawn 
out. They are full of the faults which belong inevitably 
to any writing done under the ironclad rules of editorial- 
writing for the English press. If it is arbitrarily ordered 
beforehand that an article must be of fixed length without 
any regard to its subject, such an order must of necessity 
affect its character. To prepare for the public so many 
feet or inches of opinion upon a given subject introduces 
a mathematical element which leads to mechanical phrase- 
making. The best quality of the editorial-writing of 
the English newspapers is the English employed. There 
is a much greater pretence to literary finish than in our 
newspapers. You never see any slang or common ex- 
pressions of speech on the English editorial pages. Indeed 
this is true of all of the departments of the leading 
English newspapers. Their political arguments are con- 
ducted in a seemingly fair spirit, however unfair may be 
their tendencies. Bitter personality is almost unknown. 
If an English editorial writer wishes to show to the pub- 
lic that his opponent is a liar he believes that it is a 



96 ENGLISH LIFE. 

stronger thing to prove him a liar than to simply assert 
the fact through the forms of epithet. Discussions are 
carried on very much as they are carried on in the clubs, 
in the quiet matter-of-fact way, making due concessions 
for the prejudices of the position of others. A remarkable 
exception to the general rule of the editorial treatment is 
in the handling of the Irish question. The Times news- 
paper, which is perhaps the most conservative and 
dignified of them all, does not hesitate to denounce 
Parnell and his associates as co-conspirators in crime. 
But it must be considered in this connection that the 
Times people at least have labored to prove their asser- 
tions by a formidable array of alleged evidence purchased 
from informers, and have not been wholly content with 
the mere assertion of their charges. This conservative 
tone and polite attitude towards the general public in the 
treatment of the questions of the day naturally have a 
tendency to make the newspapers very careful in their 
utterances, and their care is so great that it continually 
stands in the way of legitimate enterprise. English 
newspaper men concede readily the immense superiority 
of American newspapers over any other in the world, 
from a standpoint of publishing and news-collecting of 
the day. The criticisms which they direct against us 
touch almost entirely upon the use of slang and common 
expressions in some of our newspapers and upon the 
tendency of some of our most sensational journals to invade 
the domain of private life. The English writers say also that 
we often treat serious subjects in a spirit of levity or with 
flippancy wholly lacking in proper dignity. They frankly 
confess, however, that our treatment of current subjects 
is much more popular, and more in accordance with 
modern newspaper ideas ; but the tendency to drop into 
exaggerated attempts at humor or the use of common 
phrases of speech in some of our reports they seize upon 
and exaggerate far beyond what is fair and right in an 
unprejudiced criticism. The favorite English accusation 
against the Americans is that of egotism. This from a 
modest, shrinking, self-denying Briton is particularly in- 
teresting. 

The English journals as a class never touch a personal 
scandal unless it has appeared in the courts. The Pall 
Mall Gazette is the exceptional paper as far as this rule is 



ENGLISH LIFE. gy 

concerned. Its publishing of the Hughes-Hallet scandal 
was one of the most radical violations of the rules which 
govern English newspapers concerning such matters. It 
was an- odious scandal, and had been the property of the 
clubs and the lobbies about the House of Commons for 
two months, but there was not the slightest prospect of 
the case ever appearing in the court. The disputes 
about money had all been settled, but there was not 
the slightest possibility of any prosecution. The pub- 
lication, therefore, has not been noticed in any way by 
any of the great morning papers. If a scandal should 
come into the courts then all of the papers will print 
full reports. When a scandalous case has reached the 
English courts the newspapers go further than we do, no 
matter how much dirt is brought out. The newspapers 
which have kept clean at other times during the year do 
not hesitate then to publish, without the slightest attempt 
at concealment or abridgment, matters which could not 
appear in our worst police journals. 

The place where the great London morning journals 
really compete is in the domain of foreign correspond- 
ence. All the London morning dailies have correspond- 
ents and offices at Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Vienna 
and Rome. The Times's correspondents have, perhaps, 
the highest social rank of any of the representatives of 
the other London papers, but this is chiefly on account 
of the support given them, by the great prestige of the 
Times, and the footing and standing given to them by the 
paper itself; for instance, the representative of the Times 
who is sent out upon an expedition is always a man of 
character and standing. Then he has an equipment 
which, in itself, adds to his prestige. If he is a war cor- 
respondent he has a staff of servants and horses equal to 
that of a general in the army. He has unlimited means 
at his disposal, and, if he does not secure the latest news, 
it is because he has no capacity in that direction. 

Notwithstanding his immense advantages, the Times 
correspondent is often beaten without occasioning the 
slightest sense of discomfort to the journal which spends 
such great sums for news. The 'Times correspondent at 
Rome has a house given him by his paper. lie is the 
only American employed on the paper in a prominent 
.position. His name is William J. Stillman. He is a very 



9 S ENGLISH LIFE. 

tall man, with a very tall wife, and has six daughters 
whose average height is nearly six feet. He has there- 
fore six able assistants to aid him in picking up news at 
Rome. He has been there many years. He is much 
the best correspondent at Rome. The Times is supposed 
to have the best correspondent at Paris. Blowitz, the 
Times correspondent, is paid £3,000 a year and is allowed 
a liberal sum for expenses, but he has passed his day as 
a correspondent. The Daily News has much better Paris 
information. The Daily Telegraph is also in advance of 
the Times in Paris matters. Blowitz writes very interest- 
ing despatches upon the subject of European politics, but 
he does not keep up with current news compared with 
his rivals. The Daily Telegraph is represented by Camp- 
bell Clark at Paris, who is son-in-law to Lawson, one of 
the principal proprietors. He has a handsome office. 
His reports under the head of " Paris Day by Day " are 
more in accordance with the gossiping news character of 
the American papers than any other feature of the Lon- 
don morning journals. The Telegraph correspondents 
at Vienna and Berlin are also considered the best. These 
correspondents, however, devote too much space to the 
Bulgarian question, and are too speculative in romancing 
concerning meetings and interviews of prominent per- 
sonages. Of actual news and current affairs they send 
but little, and in the event of a great catastrophe like an 
earthquake in Italy or tremendous loss of life through 
some calamity they are too apt to depend upon the rep- 
resentative news agencies instead of going out and 
dropping for the time their statesmanlike discussions of 
European politics in order to become good news report- 
ers. But if they were to do so I doubt very much 
whether such conduct would be appreciated and ap- 
proved by their managers. 

The society journals are the only newspapers in Lon- 
don which print anything like gossip or free comment 
upon the actions of royal people or of high officials, yet 
the society papers are divided into two classes — the ef- 
fusively fulsome and the odiously vulgar. One class 
praises and writes on its knees, using capital letters at 
every point to show reverence and humility, while the 
other stands up and indulges in coarse invective and 
abuse. The paper which would pursue the middle course 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



99 



and speak of current affairs witn good nature and at the 
same time with carefulness as to truth and some regard 
for decency would undoubtedly be very popular. The 
society papers which attack the higher classes, as they 
are generally understood, depend almost entirely upon 
their imagination for their facts. They tell with the most 
glib familiarity the most preposterous stories of social life 
where writers for these papers can by no possibility pen- 
etrate. 

Several articles have been written lately contrasting 
American and English newspaper methods. I do not 
think that enough importance has been given to the dif- 
ference between English and American reporters. In 
American newspaper offices, reporters rank high, as they 
should. I believe that the best men around a newspaper 
office are its best reporters, and that no man who is a 
first-rate newspaper man could desire any better reputa- 
tion than that of being considered a great reporter. 
The most successful newspaper proprietors to-day owe 
their success to the fact of having the nature and educa- 
tion of high-class reporters. In English newspaper 
offices the reporter is an unimportant, underpaid, ill-con- 
sidered individual. His work is regarded as of the least 
importance upon the paper, and is paid accordingly. 
Mere reporters are separated from descriptive writers. 
These descriptive writers are known as special writers. 
They will condescend to go out and write an account of 
a great scene or spectacle, but no special writer who re- 
spects himself would write anything so vulgar as a piece 
of news for his paper. The result is that the actual news 
in London newspapers is written in the dullest and most 
plain and uninteresting of styles. There is also very little 
discrimination in the presentation of routine matters. The 
police courts all over the city are reported at great length, 
the unimportant reports being given just as much space 
as the most important. The pettiest local quarrels appear 
in these reports written in a dry, statistical fashion, with- 
out a particle of color or life. The public men of Eng- 
land class reporters as do their newspapers. I do not 
think the English reporters as a class have any social 
standing. If a reporter should go to see a public man 
there — and by this I mean an ordinary news reporter — 1 
am quite sure that this English public man would not 



ioo ENGLISH LIFE. 

think it out of the way to have this reporter wait among 
his servants until he should see fit to see him. I think 
the servants in the first-class houses have a better stand- 
ing than the average news reporter upon the London 
newspapers. There is no reporter on any London news- 
paper, unless it is the shorthand reporter of Parlia- 
mentary debates, who receives a salary of over £4 a 
week. Two or three pounds is a very common salary, 
some of the space men feel very well satisfied if they 
make £1 a week. The English system of news manage- 
ment, too, is discouraging. The members of the staff of 
these papers keep strictly to the performance of their regu- 
lar duties. I could not better illustrate this than by giv- 
ing a personal experience. One evening I was in the 
company of a night editor of a prominent English news- 
paper. I mentioned to him an interesting piece of news 
much more interesting to London than to New York 
people. I told him he could use it if he wished. He 
said : "I don't want it." "Why don't you," said I. "Is 
it not a good piece of news ? " " Oh, very good, indeed ! 
but I am not paid to write news for the paper. I am 
merely paid to edit it. If I should hand in a piece of 
news to the paper it would be misunderstood and I should 
get no thanks for it." 

In all well-regulated American newspaper offices every 
man in it from the editor-in-chief down to the office-boy 
is taught to regard news as of first importance, and the 
man who should hear of a piece of news and who should 
not give it promptly to his paper, no matter whether he 
was paid to do that special thing or not, would be con- 
sidered wholly unworthy of being in that paper's service. 

None of the London newspapers give much space to 
provincial news. The happenings of the great towns of 
Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham are as unknown 
to London people as if they were cities of the United 
States. Irish news occupies a very limited space. What 
is the reason for this but lack of enterprise ? In no coun- 
try are the rates for telegraphic transmission so low as in 
Great Britain. The day press rate from 6 o'clock in the 
morning until 9 p. m. is one shilling for 100 words, or at 
the rate of one-fourth of a cent a word. This rate is a 
uniform one throughout the United Kingdom. It is so 
low as to be hardly worth considering as an item of ex- 



ENGLISH LIFE. ioi 

pense in the collection of local news. The rate goes up 
slightly at night, reversing the scale of charge with us. 
After 9 p. m. the charge is one shilling for seventy-five 
words, or one-third of a cent per word. The postmaster 
is obliged to keep his office open for the reception of 
messages after 9 p. M. only upon receipt of notice that he 
will be so required. Then the sender has to pay the 
postmaster and his clerk sixpence each extra for every 
500 words filed. There is also a uniform rate for the 
rental of private wires for short or long distances. The 
price is only £500 a year for the use of a private wire 
twelve hours a night for six days in the week. What 
advocate of the English system of news-gathering will 
pretend that these splendid advantages are at all utilized 
by the English newspapers ? What can be known of the 
life of Glasgow or Edinburgh except from the Scotch 
papers ? Here the Queen was in Scotland, attending 
funerals, attending the Presbyterian Church, or else stand- 
ing a delighted witness of Highland games, and you only 
learn anything about her life from the dry bones of the 
Court circular and a Central News despatch. 

The managers of the London newspapers spend no 
money upon news-collecting because they are not obliged 
to. If there were any one paper to lead they would have 
to change front. The English public are as fond of news 
and gossip as their American brethren. They would 
swarm without prejudice to the support of a paper that 
gave them the best news. There was never such a field 
for legitimate newspaper enterprise to-day as exists in 
London, or where it would meet with a quicker or richer 
reward. 

Every one of the great papers of London use the most 
kindly expressions in speaking of the United States. The 
London Times has nearly every day an editorial upon 
American affairs, speaking of our growth with the greatest 
respect and with the greatest admiration for the United 
States. All of the papers have spoken in the most agree- 
able terms of the centennial celebration at Philadelphia. 
Nearly all of them have printed very long cable reports of 
the celebration itself. Ordinarily the English papers do 
not spend money in cable despatches from the United 
States, but they have been very liberal in their reports of 
this Philadelphia event. I have taken some pains to find out 



102 ENGLISH LIFE. 

the reason for this ebullition of good feeling. This kindli- 
ness of expression has been much more common during 
the last year. You see criticism in the United States only 
in the most bitter of the smaller weeklies'. The special 
reason for the publications in favor of the United States I 
find to be this : The progressive people of this country 
believe that Great Britain has reached the full zenith of 
her political power under the existing order of things, and 
that unless she takes positive and decided steps in the 
future to inaugurate a new policy, her future will be one 
of loss and constant retrogression. 

The Imperialists, as they are called, are the people who 
are seeking to improve and strengthen England, and to 
provide for her a prosperous future. These gentlemen 
believe that England will lose her power unless she can 
secure a close union between herself and all of her col- 
onies. These men believe that there should be a close 
federation of all the English colonies, under a system 
similar to that of the United States with us. It is this 
feeling and this movement which direct the arguments in 
favor of the United States which are now constantly being 
printed and talked throughout Great Britain. The United 
States is held up as the most powerful and prosperous 
nation of the globe, with a future beyond anything that 
imagination can surmise. This picture of prosperity and 
strength is held up as an inducement to the federation of 
the English colonies. 

Froude, the historian, wrote his book of "Oceana" 
with the distinct idea of advancing the union of the English 
colonies with the home government. In his book he 
speaks of the possibilities of this federation, and says that 
the idea of what can be accomplished by such federation 
is brought home to the minds of every Englishman who 
sets foot upon the soil of the United States. He says that 
there is in the mind of every intelligent English visitor 
who goes to the United States "something of envy, but 
more of pride, and still more of admiration. The Ameri- 
cans are the English reproduced in a new sphere. What 
they have done we can do. The Americans are a genera- 
tion before us in the growth of democracy, and events 
have proved that democracy does not mean disunion." 

The English leaders dream of this federation and some 
of them think that when the federation is once accom- 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



103 



plished, the monarchy itself, which is now but a mere 
name, will go with it, and that England will become a 
republic in name as it is now in reality. They are anxious 
to work hand in hand with us and to have the support of 
the great democratic union of States of our country. In 
all of the discussions of the fishery disputes in the news- 
papers was seen everywhere expressions of the greatest 
kindliness. There was nothing seen of the truculence of 
the Canadians. The English weredisposed in advance to 
respect any reasonable report from the commission. They 
argue constantly in favor of settling all disputes between 
the United States and Great Britain by arbitration. The 
dream of the English federation over the globe is a high 
one, but the Tories are to-day the worst enemies of this 
plan of advancing England. Instead of forging bolts to 
strengthen the union they are doing all they can to weaken 
it. Their policy in Ireland would make union and har- 
mony there forever impossible. If it were not for the 
growing conviction in Ireland that the mass of the English 
people do not sympathize with this policy, the Irish would 
become desperate. As it is, the English are daily sending 
over special investigators to Ireland. You see constantly 
in the papers letters from independent English tourists 
who have gone over to Ireland to investigate for them- 
selves. The Tory policy has also been unfriendly towards 
the colonies. The Tory Ministers have sought merely to 
aid themselves selfishly without any idea ot reciprocity. 
The colonies are yet very loyal, but in order to secure the 
federation which is planned by the greatest of English 
statesmen, a change in the Ministry and a radical change 
in the policy of the Government will have to be secured 
before any steps in this direction can be profitably taken. 

London has a very successful Press Club. It has been 
in existence only about five years, but it now numbers 
nearly three hundred members and its financial condition 
is good. It has rooms down in the city. This club is 
made up exclusively of working members on the London 
dailies. Its rooms are kept open all night. It is a place 
of resort also for foreign correspondents, who find here 
in the early hours of the morning first editions of all the 
leading London papers. The oilier night I sat through 
the annual dinner given by this club, and for the first time 
saw a large company of English newspaper men together 



104 ENGLISH LIFE. 

under one roof. As a general thing when you visit the 
London newspaper offices you see only occasionally and 
but few of the workers. It is the rule of nearly all of the 
newspaper offices to have separate rooms for their leading 
writers. Unless you have an especial acquaintance with 
each individual you would never see the whole of a staff 
of an English newspaper, no matter how freely you might 
be permitted to visit its office. This dinner, which was 
given at Freemason's Tavern, began at 7.30 and contin- 
ued until nearly one o'clock. Then the diners adjourned to 
the Press Club down in the city, and there, I understand, 
over bowls of punch the members discussed their profes- 
sion and told stories until the early morning. I can only 
judge of the English newspaper men by their conduct at 
the tavern, as I did not go down to the Club after. In 
the dining hall they were as grave and solemn in their 
demeanor as the Justices of the Supreme Court. In the 
speeches which were made after the dinner there was an 
utter absence of the spirit of fun and chaff which would 
have run through the after-dinner talks of representative 
newspaper men in the United States. There were occa- 
sional attempts at humor but they were very quiet. The 
speeches, however, were not dull. There were a very 
great many good things said, but the decorum and dignity 
were at times almost oppressive. 

To the right and left of the Chairman were. a number of 
prominent Englishmen, and it is possible that the presence 
of these distinguished men had a restraining effect upon 
the journalists. The English newspaper writers have a 
reverence for position which is utterly unknown among 
American newspaper writers. It is possible that we go 
to the other extreme of thinking too little of the dignity of 
high public position. But it appeared to me at this dinner 
that too much deference was paid to the guests of the 
club. Upon the right of the Chairman sat Viscount Cross 
the Queen's private and confidential adviser ; Lord Her- 
schell, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer ; Sir Charles 
Russel, who was the counsel for Lady Colin Campbell, 
and Sir Algernon Borthwick, the editor of the fashionable 
Morning Post. Upon the left of the Chairman were Wolse- 
ley, the Adjutant-General of the British Army, and several 
members of Parliament. Every speaker who arose to talk 
addressed himself directly to these titled guests. The 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



105 



speeches were a series of compliments between the mem- 
bers of the club and these guests. It is the custom in the 
United States when public men dine in company with the 
members of the press for the former to exaggerate the 
virtues and influence of the painstaking reporter. I have 
heard many American statesmen say in the expansive 
hours after a good dinner that they owed their entire fame 
and position before the public to the industrious and faith- 
ful reporter who had taken down their utterances and 
caused them to be printed so that the world could read. 
While public men indulge in this kind of talk with us I 
know as a matter of fact that none of them believe it. 
While they are ready to concede that the newspapers are 
of some advantage to them, yet the average public man 
in the United States dislikes the newspapers and chafes at 
the assumption that they have any real influence. I was 
not therefore surprised to hear the English public men re- 
peat in the presence of the London newspaper men this 
exaggerated praise of the power and influence of the re- 
porter. But in the case of these English speeches there 
appeared to be a gravity and an earnestness about this 
praise which argued at least a belief that the newspapers 
here had a great influence in advancing the fortunes of a 
public man. Certainly they do have more influence in 
England, where public opinion has much more weight 
than it does in any other country in the world. I would 
have liked to have seen some member of the Clover Club, 
of Philadelphia, sitting at this dinner and listening to the 
resentful tone of the speeches. The Clover Club member 
who believes in howling down and jeering at invited 
guests when they attempt to make any kind of a speech 
would doubtless have found nothing but flunkeyism in 
the polite forms of address of " Mr. Chairman, My Lords 
and Gentlemen," which preceded the opening remarks of 
every member of this club. Hut yet on the face it had 
nothing but the appearance of courtesy, and the criticism 
that naturally would come to the mind of an American in 
listening to the speeches of the members of this Press 
Club would be this : that the English newspaper men were 
too respectful, and that their speeches, when addressed 
to the public men who were present, were not in a spirit 
which indicated a feeling of equality with the men who 
were seated at the same table with them. 



IC6 ENGLISH LIFE. 

I noticed throughout the talk back and forth that unus- 
ual importance was given to the war correspondents. They 
were the heroes of the club and were especially compli- 
mented by the public men in flowery phrases. These 
war correspondents are simply good reporters — better 
reporters than the average on the English press — who 
have a presentable appearance and have had successes in 
going through a campaign or two. The moment an 
English newspaper man has reported one campaign and 
made a reputation as a war correspondent he ceases to 
be of any value as an all-around newspaper writer. 
There is nothing that he can be called upon to do after that 
which does not relate to his specialty. If the paper has 
any military subject to be discussed the war correspondent 
will condescend to write about it. But of politics he 
knows nothing and cares less. He would refuse and 
consider himself degraded if asked to do any ordinary 
piece of reporting. One of the war correspondents, a Mr. 
Pearce, who was in the Soudan with Wolseley, in re- 
sponding to the toast of the Houses of Parliament, said 
that he knew less about the subject than any man in Eng- 
land. He had never attended a Parliamentary debate and 
had met not over half a dozen members in his life, and 
never had read anything in the way of political discus- 
sions. In order to appreciate that, one must remember 
that this English journalist was living in London, where 
the Houses of Parliament are sitting and where their de- 
bates are the constant subjects of discussion and criticism 
by every man of thought or education in the city. I was 
told by an old English journalist who sat near me that 
the special war correspondents are not expected to do 
anything except in the event of a war. Some of them 
have difficulty in finding employment in times of peace, 
but since the war flurries of the last year they have been 
very prosperous and contented. There is not an English 
newspaper of any importance in London that has not re- 
tained several of the war correspondents so as to have 
them at their disposal in the event of the outbreak of a war. 

There is a good deal of humbug, I think, about the 
special war correspondent. I feel perfectly confident that 
any one of the well-trained reporters of any of our import- 
ant metropolitan newspapers in the United States could 
easily outstrip any one of these English specialists with 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



I0 7 



their backing 1 of unlimited money. I would be willing to 
back any American reporter with a few weeks' training 
against any one of these heavy, self-satisfied, indolent 
looking gentlemen, who must have become sluggish 
through their having nothing to do while waiting for a 
war. They would certainly be in a much better condition 
for a campaign if they were engaged in all-around news- 
paper work during the time of peace. 

The London newspaper field is a most prosperous one. 
London is so large and so rich that the newspapers 
published here have great resources at their command. 
London is so broad and is made up of so many different 
localities that the prominent business people are abso- 
lutely driven to advertise themselves in the newspapers 
if they wish to make themselves known and not become 
lost in the crowd. The result is that all of the prominent 
papers are loaded down with advertisements. In almost 
all of the cities of the United States some one newspaper 
has the monopoly of publishing the small advertisements, 
such as " wants " and the like. Here nearly all of the 
morning papers have their share of this paying class of 
business. The morning newspapers of London are great 
blanket sheets, clumsy in size and awkward to handle. 
The greater part of this space is given up to advertise- 
ments and editorials. News occupies a subordinate place. 
The collection of news is a most expensive item of outgo 
in the accounts of American newspaper management. 
The subordination of news in the London papers makes 
them cost very much less to produce than papers occu- 
pying corresponding positions in the United States. Their 
telegraph bills are small and they have but few reporters. 
The Daily Telegraph, the Daily A T ews and the Daily Stand- 
ard are eight-page newspapers, with eight columns on 
each page. This morning's Telegraph, which is a fair 
average edition, has thirty-seven of its sixty-four columns 
given up to advertisements ; six more of its columns are 
devoted to the money market and shipping intelligence ; 
three columns to Parliament ; four and a half columns to 
editorial articles of the regulation length, leaving less 
than fourteen columns for news. The Times is a six- 
column paper, but it prints so many supplements that it 
publishes as a rule more matter than any other one of 
the London morning papers. 



io8 ENGLISH LIFE. 

The paper having the largest income in London is the 
Daily Telegraph. This paper is owned by Levy, Sr., and 
Lawson and Lawson, Jr. The Daily Telegraph is by far 
the richest paper in London ; indeed, I do not believe 
there is any newspaper in the world which has so large 
a net income. I have asked a number of men whose 
business is closely connected with newspaper publishing 
concerning the income of the Daily Telegraph. Those 
who are familiar with the advertising rates of the Telegraph 
and who know the figures of its circulation say that the 
net income of the Daily Telegraph reaches the enormous 
sum of £300,000 per annum, or $1,500,000. This paper 
is said by all financial authorities to have a reserve of 
6,000,000 of pounds invested producing an income which 
can be used at any time for any extra expenditure, like a 
great war or a fight against competition from any new 
newspaper enterprise. Its circulation is in the neighbor- 
hood of 280,000; that is its average. Although it is a 
Conservative paper, it comes closer to the people of Lon- 
don than any other newspaper published here. It has 
almost no circulation in the rural districts. Its great cir- 
culation is almost entirely confined to the city of London 
itself. 

The Times newspaper has a circulation now of some- 
thing less than 60,000. This paper will have to come 
down in its price, as its circulation has fallen off consid- 
erably the last few years. Its income is about half that 
of the Telegraph, namely, £150,000. A large part of this 
income is from its advertising. It has a larger amount of 
advertising than any other London paper. It is the high- 
est-priced newspaper published to-day in the world. The 
three-pence charged for it corresponds to six cents of 
American money. The Times in the rural districts is 
rented out. It is often taken by three people who divide 
its expenditure and its cost. In this way its readers are 
brought up to over 100,000. 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



109 



CHAPTER II. 



A VISIT TO THE OFFICE OF THE TIMES NEWSPAPER. 

Soon after arriving in London I had a long talk with Dr. 
McDonald, the manager of the London Times. This news- 
paper is one of the most exclusive in London. It 
never divides its news with any paper, however remote. 
It is thc.fashion among Englishmen to poke fun at the 
Times, but it is a most influential factor in English poli- 
tics from its very characteristics, which harmonize most 
thoroughly with prevailing English ideas. The Times is, 
in the first place, the highest-priced newspaper in the 
world. It is sold at three-pence, or six cents of our 
money, while every one of its principal competitors is 
sold at one penny, or two cents of our money. It steadily 
holds its own in spite of this high price. I asked the 
manager of this paper yesterday if he did not think they 
would make more money by lowering the price. He 
said, in reply, that they might gain a larger circulation, 
but added: "It was a matter of principle with us to 
maintain the price as it now is. " For with the lowering 
of the price I have noticed in the cheaper papers a tend- 
ency to the lowering of their general tone and character." 

I have never seen any newspaper establishment which 
has such a combined air of a war office and a monastery. 
Although situated in one of the noisiest quarters of the 
city, when once you are fairly behind its solid walls you 
hear only a soft, confused murmur of the roar in the 
streets. The Times building is a plain red brick, of a 
heavy, almost clumsy style of architecture. It sets so 
low in the street that you do not get a fair idea of its 
great size until you have begun to walk through it. Un- 
like the greater part of our newspaper offices its space is 



HO ENGLISII LIFE. 

entirely occupied by the newspaper publication and staff. 
No foreign element is permitted to occupy the remotest 
corner of the establishment. No one is permitted to enter 
the building beyond the domain of the business depart- 
ment except he has a personal acquaintance with the 
editor or a trustworthy letter of introduction to him. 
Every one in the employment of this paper is expected 
to guard all of the regular business proceedings and work 
of the office as if the most trivial matter were a grave State 
secret. 

I found a personal letter of introduction from Mr. 
George \V. Childs, a key which at once unlocked to me 
this most closely-guarded office. Within five minutes 
after its being sent up by the blond-mustached, soldierly- 
looking messenger I was ushered up two broad flights of 
stairs to the manager's reception-room. The Times es- 
tablishment is altogether too conservative to introduce ele- 
vators except in their publication department, where the 
" lifts " are employed for carrying the forms up and down 
and for similar heavy work. 

The room where I was received was large and high, 
lighted by two great windows, devoid of drapery. The 
walls were a dull yellow-gray, with one picture hanging 
thereon. This was of Bull-Run Russell, the Times's 
famons special correspondent. The picture must have 
been painted many years ago, as it is quite dimmed with 
age and coal-soot. It hangs directly over the heavy, 
dark wooden mantle, underneath which glowed and snap- 
ped a bright, open, soft-coal fire. There were a half- 
dozen very heavy mahogany chairs in the room, up- 
holstered in dark-green leather. One chair had a maho- 
gany writing-leaf on its arm. The desk of the manager, 
in the centre, was very plain, and contained but few 
papers. Back of it hung a great white chart of the con- 
struction of sentences in the French language. To the 
right of the desk was a broad, luxurious light gray-green 
chintz-covered sofa, large enough and wide enough to 
rest the Cardiff giant. In the corner beyond this was a 
plain, handsome dark bookcase, with glass doors. This 
case was filled with works of reference only. The carpet 
was a dark, dull red. The room was almost severe in 



ENGLISH LIFE. i x , 

its simplicity, and yet it seemed thoroughly complete and 
satisfactory. 

Dr. McDonald, the manager, received me with a cor- 
diality that is unusual for a publisher to show to a visitor 
who calls during working hours. He gave me more 
time than the President of the United States could reason- 
ably hope to obtain from a New York editor, if he sought 
a consultation with him during working hours. 

The Times manager has been in this office since 1841. 
He has been the manager ever since 1857. If he owned 
every inch of this property he could not extend to it more 
loyalty, pride or care. He does not look a day over 
forty-five years of age, although from the length of his 
service in this office it is reasonable to conclude that he 
is at least fifty. He is above medium height, with a 
broad pair of shoulders, a splendidly developed chest and 
an air of health and energy in reserve, good to see in a 
man occupying a position of responsibility and active 
occupation. His large head is quite bald. About the 
base of the skull is a fringe of yellowish-brown hair 
touched lightly with gray. His forehead is full and pro- 
jecting in the region of the perceptive faculties. His eyes 
are a clear, cold, blue-gray. His nose is straight and 
large. The lower part of his ruddy, fresh-colored face is 
covered by a short brown mustache and beard, very 
much of the fashion and color of that worn by the late 
Gen. Grant. His voice is rich, full and deliberate. He 
is a man evidently of an iron will and great executive 
capacity — one of those rare individuals who never get 
excited and are most deliberate when others are demor- 
alized. He has an unusual burden of responsibility in 
maintaining the high state of discipline necessary to the 
keeping of the morale of this most exclusive and dignified 
of newspapers. 

Dr. McDonald personally showed me through the 
Times establishment instead of turning me over to the ten- 
der mercies of a messenger. I do not propose to give a 
detailed description of the mechanism of this publication 
office, but merely to note a few things that especially 
struck my mind. In the first place the editorial rooms 
would interest most American newspaper men. Every 
prominent writer on the paper had a large room to him- 



I i 2 ENGLISH LIFE. 

self, furnished in the same style of solid comfort and 
simplicity as the manager's office. In each room sparkled 
an open fire. In each there was a library of reference. 
In this monkish solitude, in front of a glowing fire, with 
his books and papers about him, guarded against any 
possible intrusion, if ever a writer should be inspired to 
do good work he surely would be in such surroundings. 
But these writers are not permitted to select their own 
subjects. They are given their subjects and told how to 
treat them by the manager. The rest is a mere matter of 
literary gymnastics. 

In the visit to the editorial rooms we stopped at one 
room on one of the upper-floors. This was the only 
shabby-looking room in the whole establishment. The 
carpet here was worn threadbare. The coverings to the 
desks were ragged. It was such a break in the general 
character of the institution that I involuntarily turned to- 
wards the doctor. He glanced quietly at a carelessly 
dressed young* man, who, with a silk hat on the back of 
his head, was writing away for dear life, as he said in a 
low tone of voice, " This is the penny-a-liners' room. No 
one who works in this room has any regular employment 
or connection with the Times." 

"In other words, the writers who come here prepare 
news articles to sell to you at so much a line ? " 

"Precisely."' 

"They correspond to the space-writers of our offices. 
Do any of these penny-a-liners ever graduate from this 
kind of work into regular employment on the Times P" 

The manager said with peculiar emphasis: "I might 
say almost never ! " 

In the composing-room there was the same silence, 
decorum and discipline. There were great screens back 
of the printers to protect them and their manuscript copy 
from the sight of casual passers-by. The cases are of 
dark wood. The floors are stone. Everywhere exces- 
sive cleanliness and order. There is no lounging. The 
printers are obliged to put all their outside wraps and hats 
in a check-room. No article of apparel is allowed to rest 
on any of the cases. The sombre dignity of the establish- 
ment extends to the compositors, who are not generally 
regarded in newspaper offices as models of decorum. 
Cabinet Ministers could not be more grave and quiet in 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



"3 



their work than these printers. Over each case is a beau- 
tiful circular light under a glass globe ; it is a gas pro- 
duced by the action of hot air instead of cold. It is 
stronger and mellower than the electric light. Upon the 
right of the composing-room are the famous type setting 
machines of the office. They are used to set up all the 
matter of the paper except the advertisements. The man- 
ager says there is no question about the practicability of 
the type-setting machines. The trouble is wholly outside 
of the machines in their being employed. From this I in- 
ferred that it is largely a question of overcoming the 
printers' objections to them. The Times will not employ 
union printers. The parliamentary debates are dictated 
directly from the galleries of the Houses of Parliament 
through a long speaking-tube to one of the type-setters. 
Each type-setter can set about one column an hour. 

In England there is no official report of the proceedings 
of Parliament corresponding to the Congressional Record 
of the United States. It is left to private enterprise to 
make the record, and the result is all of the rubbish is lost, 
and only note-worthy speeches are preserved. The Han- 
sard reports have been recognized as official, but as they 
were made up of compilations of the Times' reports the 
Times now forestalls these reports by publishing special 
and earlier ones of their own. The press-room instead of 
being in the basement, is in a side wing, a great high- 
arched room, large as many modern churches. In it are 
ten great Walter presses, the invention and design of Mr. 
McDonald. It was he who also invented the stereotyping 
which made the rapid press possible. The stereotyping 
in the Times office is now done in exactly five minutes. 

The paper in the press-room comes in great cylinders, 
containing each four miles of paper. At the mills each 
cylinder is rolled together, when ready, in five minutes. 
So rapid is the movement that the paper parts at the end of 
the work with a snap that sounds like a clap of thunder. The 
Times orders only a two days' supply of paper ahead and 
takes from three manufacturers, so that it has the constant 
advantage of daily competition. 

I had often heard that the places on the Times staff were 
for a life tenure. I asked Mr. McDonald about this, say- 
ing : "I have heard that no one ever employed on the 
Times is ever discharged. If he should fail in any way he 



1 1 4 ENGLISH LIFE. 

would be still retained on your pay-rolls, although not 
actually employed in doing any work ? " 

The manager replied that such stories were apt to he 
greatly exaggerated. They exercise great care in the em- 
ployment of their staff, and it had just happened that there 
never had been any occasion to discharge any member of 
their personal staff. The writers on the Times are the 
highest paid journalists in Europe. Their special corre- 
spondents in the various social capitals are given establish- 
ments that entitle them to a footing of equality with the 
diplomatic representatives. In Rome the Times has only 
recently finished the building of a handsome house for the 
exclusive use and comfort of its correspondent at that 
point. 

The Times newspaper is rapidly departing from its 
former lines of management. I understand that there is 
some talk of reducing its price. The management is 
adapting itself more and more to the line of modern news- 
paper methods. The solemnity and ponderous dignity of 
its editorial page are passing away. In their place there 
is a light vein, which often descends to what the English 
would term flippancy. I have heard a number of English 
gentlemen express surprise at what they call "the degra- 
dation " of its editorial pages. From an American stand- 
point the change is much for the better. An argument, to 
my mind, does not lose weight if it happens to be expressed 
in light and effective satire. The rapier is very often a 
more effective weapon than a club. The methods em- 
ployed by the Times against the Irish party belong to 
modern newspaper management. It has expended great 
sums in the way of personal investigation, and has shown 
great enterprise in gathering together material to be used 
against Parnell and his associates. This newspaper is 
planning to connect the leaders of the Irish party with the 
new dynamite conspiracy, which it alleges it has un- 
earthed. It has in its employment a number of Irish 
informers. The paper may be considered to-day the 
strongest enemy in England to the Irish National party. It 
is much stronger than the ministry in its collection of mate- 
rial to be used. This newspaper employs its money and its 
advantages in such a way that it has come to be regarded 
as the leading element in the present ministerial govern- 
ment in the campaign against Ireland, Its editor and 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



*5 



proprietor, Mr. Walters, will probably receive a peerage 
r as a reward for his skill. He is a gentleman above 
medium height, and inclined to be spare. He has a face 
not unlike that of the late Charles O'Conor, with the ex- 
ception that his features are larger and his face longer. 
His nose is a decided Roman hook. His eyes are dark 
and deeply set under snowy-white eyebrows. His mouth 
is thin-lined and large. His face is smooth-shaven to the 
line of his jaws. Around under the jaws is a thick growth 
of white whiskers, which pass up from the throat in front 
of his ears, and there joining his hair, make a frame of 
white for his long, fresh-colored face. He is not given 
to saying much, but is well liked by those who come in 
contact with him. The ponderous sledge-hammer force 
of the Times comes, however, from the dominant and 
masterful management of Mr. McDonald. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE OFFICE OF THE " DAILY TELEGRAPH." 

The office of the Daily Telegraph is one of the best 
newspaper buildings in London. It is fully equal to the 
one occupied and owned by the Times. Like the Times, 
the Telegraph occupies all of its building, admitting no 
outside tenants to any of its floors. The Telegraph build- 
ing is in Fleet street, about midway between the end of 
the Strand and the beginning of Ludgate Hill. Its hand- 
some, substantial brick building, with yellow-gray stone 
front, is four stories in height. It has a very wide front 
upon Fleet street, running back to a great distance. You 
enter from the street directly into the business office, which 
occupies the full width of the building, and must be at 
least fifty feet, and extends back fully seventy-five feet. 
The windows and doors are plate glass, and the floor 
black and white marble tiles. The ceilings are supported 
upon polished red granite pillars with gray caps ami 
bases. The woodwork is all in oak. There is no at- 
tempt at economy of space. Three-quarters of this great 



u6 ENGLISH LIFE. 

room is surrendered to the public. Around the two sides, 
upon the right and left of this office, are the counters be- 
hind which stand the advertising clerks. Several files of 
the newspaper are in the open spaces between. At the 
rear of this great room there is a partition of oak and 
ground glass which shuts off from sight the bookkeepers 
and accountants of the paper. This place has the solid 
look of a great bank. The magnificence and solidity of 
this great business room suggests a public building rather 
than one devoted to private enterprise. 

Yesterday I had an opportunity of going all through 
the offices of the Telegraph. There was throughout the 
establishment the same solid character and thoroughness 
as was shown on the ground floor. This newspaper 
building has been erected with such care that it will stand 
as long as any of the public buildings in London. In 
spite of the large sums of money that must have been 
spent making a complete modern newspaper building 
there is one thing missing which is particularly notice- 
able to an American visitor. This is the absence of the 
elevator, or lift. But there are not many stairs to go up 
in this building for the working force. The editorial 
rooms are only up one flight, occupying what is called 
here the first floor. There is the same order, discipline, 
and system of silence maintained in the office of the Tele- 
graph as in the offices of the Times. The hallways are 
wide, clean, and clear of everything in way of litter and 
rubbish. The doors leading into these halls are kept 
closed. There is throughout the building an atmosphere 
of quiet and repose certainly conducive to careful mental 
work. The leading editorial writers have rooms to them- 
selves. These are well fitted up with conveniences for 
communication with the editor-in-chief. Copy and proofs 
are passed through pneumatic tubes, so that there is no 
confusion and hurrying boys between the rooms of the 
writers, the proof-readers and the composing-room. 

The editorial council-room is an interesting place. In 
the centre of the room is a long, open table surrounded 
with chairs, and with a larger chair at the head for the 
editor-in-chief. In front of each desk is a blotting-pad, 
pens, ink and paper for notes. About the room are 
different tables for the exchange editors. The American 
newspapers go to one table, the Continental papers to 



ENGLISH LIFE. 1 1 7 

another, and the English provincial papers to still an- 
other. When the editorial council is not sitting- the ex- 
change editors here do their work. Over each door in 
these working-rooms, where several writers are gathered, 
I noticed the impressive word "Silence" printed in large 
letters. This editorial council-room contains also a library 
of reference stretching from the floor to the ceiling, rest- 
ing in careful order and arrangement behind locked glass 
doors. I walked through a number of the rooms of the 
writers after leaving this library. All were light, clean, 
well furnished and free from every form of dirt and con- 
fusion. The reception-room of the editor-in-chief, Mr. 
Lawson, is a great, square room, suitable for the recep- 
tion-room of a Cabinet Minister. It has large, dark, red 
rugs upon the floor and a great oaken table in the centre. 
The furniture was in green leather, solid and substantial. 
There were several pictures on the wall, portraits of Mr. 
Levy, senior, one of the large owners of the paper and of 
others connected with the establishment and who own 
interest in it. This paper is owned by Levy, senior, and 
Lawson, senior and junior. 

The composing-room is in the back part of the building 
upon the next floor. This is well lighted, clean, orderly, 
with little side rooms for the printers to place their coats, 
hats and luncheon baskets in. It is lighted by the elec- 
tric light. There are but seventy cases, although this is 
the largest paper in London. A little comparison here 
will show how much more type is set by The World office 
in New York. The World newspaper has 150 .stands, 
employing an equal number of printers. If it had room 
some twenty-five more cases would be added. The com- 
position in all of the London newspaper offices is paid by 
the " en " instead of the " em " measurement used in New 
York. Making allowance for the difference in money 
and the difference in the scale, the cost of composition in 
London is about 44 cents for the equivalent of 1,000 ems. 
The stereotyping-room is just out of the composing-room. 
It is long and narrow, with high ceilings, and with every 
possible mechanical facility for rapid work. It is in 
charge of a tall, stalwart, handsome Italian foreman. He 
told me that the best record made by them as yet on the 
last plate, the one that counts, is eleven minutes. 

The press-room is on the ground floor. The Telegraph 



Ii8 ENGLISH LIFE. 

has ten of Richard Hoe's best presses. These presses are 
capable, under careful management, of netting 12,000 im- 
pressions an hour. Only one of the presses in the Tele- 
graph office has folding and pasting attachments. The 
reason of this is very simple. The English newsdealers 
do not want their papers folded. They will not take them 
if they are folded. They say that they are more conven- 
ient to handle in unfolded sheets. They are taken by the 
wholesale trade. They distribute them in turn unfolded 
to the small dealers. Upon them falls the burden of the 
folding of them by hand. The Telegraph folds and cuts 
papers to send away by mail, but as the bulk of its papers 
are handled by the wholesale dealer, it does not have to 
employ more than one machine. Mr. W. H. Smith, a 
member of the present Cabinet, is at the head of a concern 
which practically monopolizes the handling and sale of 
the London newspapers. He has folding machines in 
his establishment, where he folds for such of his custom- 
ers as want them that way, but he prefers to receive all 
his papers in bulk, unfolded. The fact that the English 
wholesale dealers want the papers that way is a great ad- 
vantage in point of time and economy to the London pub- 
lishers. 

One of the features of the Daily Telegraph building dif- 
fers from that of any other newspaper building I have 
ever heard anything about. The upper floor is conven- 
iently cut up into bed-rooms and sitting-rooms. These are 
comfortably furnished for the use of any members of the 
writing force who have to be on duty during the evening 
or night. Indeed, I am told that any member of the 
writing staff of the Telegraph can have sleeping room 
here if he wishes, and this without charge. It is here that 
the managing editor has his private chambers. 

The Standard has a circulation in the neighborhood of 
200,000, and its income is about £150,000. The circula- 
tion of the Daily News is placed at 100,000, and its income 
at £100,000. These are the most profitable papers in Lon- 
don. The Chronicle, which is a later newspaper in point 
of establishment, is published by the owner of Lloyd's 
Weekly. Lloyd's Weekly clears for its owner from £60,- 
000 to £70,000 a year, and it is estimated that the Chron- 
icle brings his income up to about £100,000. The Graphic 
and the Illustrated London News are very prosperous news- 



ENGLISH LIFE. ug 

papers. They bring in to their publishers a net income 
of £100,000 a year. There are a great many trades 
papers published in London; all of them make comfort- 
able incomes. The evening newspapers are not so 
prosperous as the morning papers. The Globe has the 
largest income, which is estimated at £50,000, but none 
of the other evening papers have any income which can 
at all compare with those of the morning papers. 

It is a remarkable fact that in this rich field, where pros- 
perity follows almost every form of newspaper publica- 
tion, there should be less enterprise in news collecting 
than in any one of the minor cities in the United States. 
Few of the morning papers receive despatches after ir 
o'clock at night, and it is very rare that they make special 
efforts to get news outside of their regular routine sources. 
The result is there is great sameness in all the papers. 
The essential difference between them is found only in 
their editorial pages. The Morning Post, which I have 
omitted from the list of morning papers, is very rich. It 
prints no special news ; it is made up entirely of the 
routine press despatches, the paragraphs from the Court Cir- 
cular and social paragraphs. These latter paragraphs are 
paid for where a person is not of sufficient prominence to 
secure a free notice. The rate is 75 guineas per column for 
this class of matter. The income of this paper is about 
$100,000. Its editor is Sir Algernon Borthwick. He is a 
member of Parliament, and a thick-and-thin supporter of 
royalty. He has recently been rewarded with a title. He 
is a popular man, and prominent in all [he clubs. 



PART IV. 



CHAPTER I. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

THE THEATRES CONTRASTED THE BARMAIDS AND THEIR PECUL- 
IARITIES THE EATING AND DRINKING THE MUSIC HALLS AND 

THEIR PATRONS. 

There is one feature of London theatrical management 
which always looks odd and strange to an American, 
even when he has been a resident for some time in London. 
This is the refreshment bar, where people go between the 
acts for a drmk or a short smoke. I do not know of a 
single prominent threatre in America, except the Casino, 
where the bar is under its own roof or where it is 
directly connected with the theatre management. Here 
it is always in the theatre, and is generally upon one of 
the upper floors, on a level with the boxes and dress-circle 
seats. The bar itself, very much like ours in style and 
shape, is always presided over by barmaids. They are 
as respectable and well-mannered as the saleswomen of 
the best shops. They have alert business manners, and 
are not given to saying much, unless a golden youth in- 
sists upon a bit of what he calls "chahff," as he orders. 
In the large room where drinks are served there are al- 
ways small round tables. Here ladies from all parts of 
the theatre, with their escorts, come to drink a glass of 
wine or a cup of coffee. To see a bar presided over by 
women, and to see among its patrons ladies from all parts 
of the theatre, of undoubted respectability and standing, 



ENGLISH LIFE. I2i 

creates at first upon the American mind a queer impres- 
sion. It is similar to the impression that would be made 
upon the mind of a stranger, who, entering the Hoffman 
House bar for the first time, should find it in the hands of 
business-like barmaids, with ladies and gentlemen sitting 
at the little tables as customers. The presence of women 
in these places appears to have the effect of eliminating 
the element of rowdyism. You hear no loud conversation, 
oaths or coarse expressions. The talk and manners are 
the same as those you would find in a refreshment room 
at a private entertainment. 

The barmaids generally dress in black. They are much 
given to having their hair cut short and then curled tight 
over their heads. They are always supposed to be 
youthful and to wear a merry expression. This merry 
expression is a little wearing at times, but in the main 
the careless customers are content with mechanical smiles 
and cast-iron laughter at the traditional British joke that 
comes in with every order. 

Here is a typical barmaid as sketched last night in the 
Princess Theatre. She was slightly above medium height 
and very plump. She filled a close-fitting black dress 
nearly to the point of bursting. Her face was round and 
clear in its lines. Her complexion was naturally fair, 
and, if she had been content with what nature had given 
her in the way of a complexion, would have looked very 
well. But she was not. The red and white of the theat- 
rical paint-box were laid on in thick stripes and without 
the least pretense of disguise. Her eyes were the intense 
dark-black bead color so common among the women of 
the servant class. Her features were regular, and when 
she laughed, as she did at stated intervals, she displayed 
snowy white teeth. Her intensely black hair was curled 
tight around her very round head. She represented the 
very sunniest of barmaid good nature and lively spirits. 
She smiled upon the lame, the halt and the blind with the 
same unction when they came for an order as she did 
upon the most resplendent of the gilded youth. She 
laughed with unwearying fortitude at jokes that were old, 
weary, and moss-grown when Csesar invaded Britain with 
his Roman hosts. 

The amount of eating and drinking done in a first-class 
London theatre every evening would astonish an Ameri- 



122 ENGLISH LIFE. 

can manager. People come straight to the theatre from 
their dinners and immediately begin ordering ices, cakes, 
coffee and sweets. The privilege of furnishing refresh- 
ments to a theatre is paid for in large sums by restaurant 
proprietors. The refreshment room is one of the large 
sources of revenue of a theatre management. Waiting 
maids during the evening go about throughout the theatre 
knocking at the box doors hawking refreshments. Between 
the acts people eat and drink constantly to fill in the time. 
Programmes also are charged for in nearly all the theatres. 
The average price of a programme is a sixpence. If an 
American audience in any theatre in the United States 
should be called on to pay 12 cents for their programmes 
there would be a riot. American managers say that it 
would be impossible to introduce the feature of asking 
even one cent for programmes. 

The theatres are arranged upon a plan essentially 
different from ours. In only one theatre, the Haymarket, 
has the pit been abolished. The pit is the rear space 
upon the same floor with the stalls, which correspond 
to our orchestra chairs. There is no aisle down the 
centre of the stalls. They are entered from the sides. 
Seats here are ten shillings, and ten shillings and six- 
pence, equal to two dollars and a half. Entrance to 
the pit is generally from one to two shillings, but here 
the people sit upon benches and no seats are reserved. 
The prices of seats in the galleries range down from 
seven shillings ($1. 75). Theatre-going is very expensive. 
Few of the theatres make money notwithstanding the 
high prices. Plays are better mounted in London theatres 
than anywhere else in the world. A play that could not 
go upon its merits is often carried by its exquisite cos- 
tuming, scenic and spectacular effects. 

The noted figures in the London theatrical world are the 
Kendals, Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, the Bancrofts, Ber- 
nard Beere, Mrs. Beerbohm-Tree, Charles Wyndham, and 
Toole. All of these have been students in the same finished 
school. Irving, Terry, Bernard Beere, and Wyndham once 
played together in the same stock company. The theatres, 
with few exceptions, possess no architectural merit. There is 
not a single theatre in London with a handsome exterior. 
They are confusing in their exits. The managements are 



ENGLISH LIFE. ^3 

conservative and take to electric lighting with the 
greatest reluctance. So slow are some of the theatres in dis- 
charging their audiences and so ancient their methods of 
lighting that it is a wonder they have so long escaped 
any great calamity in the way of fire and panic. In all 
the good theatres a careful watch now is maintained 
against fire, and managers are stationed in all of the 
passages near all the exits during performances. 

The special feature of the London amusement world is 
the music hall. There are at least thirty in the city. 
Every neighborhood has it music hall, always run in 
connection with a drinking establishment. At all of the 
regular theatres ladies cannot wear bonnets, and gentle- 
men attend in evening dress. At the music halls you 
can go in ordinary dress. Gentlemen wear their hats, 
and can smoke or drink. At the highest priced places, 
the stalls only cost five shillings. The entertainment 
corresponds to the features of the programme offered at 
our best variety theatre. The utmost order is always 
maintained. There are never any rough talk, or any 
more indecorum in the stalls or in any part of the hall, 
than in the best theatres in London. The freedom of 
these places draw great crowds. Their cheap prices 
cut directly into the business of the regular theatres and 
show what could be done if any theatre-giving standard 
drama were to adopt a more popular scale of prices. 

The two great music halls of London, the Empire and 
the Alhambra, are situated in Leicester Square, the centre 
of the French quarter of London. These theatres are 
decorated and fitted up on a scale of gorgeousness not 
to be equalled in any theatres in the world. The stalls 
at the Empire are great easy chairs, while those of the 
rival establishment are scarcely inferior. The ballet is 
the great feature at each place, although there are given 
in addition all of the features of the regular music hall 
programmes. The Alhambra was the first comer. Its 
originator made a great fortune, and then the Empire ap- 
peared last year as its rival. But so great is the crowd 
of idle pleasure seekers, in this great capital of the world, 
that both places do a great business ; and if a dozen more 
were to be built in their neighborhood upon an equal 
scale of magnificence they would undoubtedly draw 
crowds. 



124 ENGLISH LIFE. 

These .places are supposed to be the most wicked 
places in London. They are the haunts of the fast young 
men and of the bachelor club-men. But under the 
peculiar management of the places, none of this wicked- 
ness appears directly upon the surface. In the lower part 
of the house, in the stalls, and in the boxes, you will see 
the same class of people found in any of the theatres. 
The ballet is always a most decorous spectacle arranged 
upon the highest lines of terpsichorean art. A lady ac- 
companied by a proper escort could visit either one of 
these theatres in the part given over to respectable 
visitors without seeing or hearing anything to offend. 
But at the back part of the theatre, upon a floor on a level 
with the upper galleries, is what is called the promenade. 
Here there are gathered people of both sexes who come 
here for the purpose of drinking, gossiping and for the 
conduct of intrigues. The women all belong to the 
demi-monde. The men are club-men, young fellows, 
and inquisitive strangers. The men are nearly always 
in evening dress. The women are well dressed and 
quiet in their demeanor. There is nothing here to out- 
wardly offend, as the rules of both establishments secure 
mere surface order. The Square is one of the sights of 
London after the performances at the two places are at 
an end. It is most brilliantly lighted by flaring gas and 
electric lights. Every thoroughfare is packed with 
cab men shouting for fares. The sidewalks are packed 
with a swell-mob. The enforced decorum of the in- 
terior is lo^t. The few London policemen about are 
deaf and blind to the shouts, songs, and wild jostling of a 
most free and easy crowd. There is generally a grand 
rush for the Hotel Cavour at one of the corners of the 
square, one of the famous supper places of London. 
This is always packed in a few moments, and then its 
doors are closed against a crowd of reckless men 
and women seeking supper. But even this most noisy 
and most uproarious place, celebrated justly for its good 
eating must be closed dark and silent by one a. m. The 
law requires the closing at 12.30, but the police do noth- 
ing if the place is shut at sharp one. 

Just around from Leicester Square, in Piccadilly Circus, 
are the other noted music halls, not quite so high in price 
as those I have just mentioned. 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



125 



This Circus is brilliantly lighted all night. The late 
crowd from Leicester Square sweeps down here, so that 
from eleven to two this neighborhood becomes the ren- 
dezvous of all the outcast class of London. It is called 
by some the slave market of London, where women are 
as openly and publicly bought and sold as in the slave 
marts of Constantinople. 

This is not an agreeable subject, but it is one constantly 
before the attention of visitors to London. The way the 
streets are surrendered after eleven o'clock to the lawless 
classes is a constant source of wonder, when it is to be noted 
that in many respects, such as the carefully guarding of life 
and property, the cleanliness of the streets, and in the 
maintenance of high sanitary conditions, London is un- 
surpassed by any city in the world. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE SPECIAL TRAIN OF THE PRIME MINISTER— FREE PASSES FOR 

HIGH OFFICIALS RELATIVE SPEED OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN 

TRAINS. 

The Queen rarely interferes in the conduct of public busi- 
ness. The affairs of the government are directed by the 
Cabinet. Occasionally the Queen desires to talk with the 
Prime Minister, and then he is sent to confer with her. 
She receives him generally at Windsor Castle. The Min- 
ister always has a special train when sent for by the 
Queen. I was in tne Paddington station one day when 
the special train for the Marquis of Salisbury was 
there. That was a week ago last Sunday. The train 
consisted of two coaches. The second coach was for the 
baggage. The special coach represented the very ex- 
treme of luxury and comfort as understood by English 
railway carriage builders. It was the wagon often used 
by the Prince of Wales and the Queen for coining and 
going between Windsor and London. This coach could 
not compare in comfort with the poorest of our Pullman 
cars. I was in the station some twenty minutes before 
the arrival of the Prime Minister and as the special was 



126 ENGLISH LIFE. 

right alongside of the platform where I was, I had a good 
opportunity to examine it at my leisure. The special 
coach was painted white, with bands of dull brown red. 
It was divided into four compartments. The compart- 
ment at the upper end of the car was shut off from the 
other portion. This was fitted up in dull red leather. It 
was the same style of compartment found in the average 
English first-class railway coach. It was intended for 
the servants. Back of this was the saloon compartment, 
which occupied about half the space of the car. This car 
was furnished with an Axminster carpet and red-leather- 
covered furniture. The arrangement of the seats was any 
thing but comfortable. Along each side of the saloon were 
two great leather sofas, but their backs were so narrow that 
one could not sit upon them comfortably. The only 
position of comfort would be found in a reclining pos- 
ture. They were very suitable for the purpose of sleep, 
but if one wished to look out of the window he could not 
find a position in the entire saloon where he could sit at 
ease. At the end of the car and facing backward was a 
long, padded, high-backed, continuous seat, capable of 
holding four or five people comfortably, but on this seat 
there were only two places where any one could lookout 
of the window. Just beyond this saloon there was a 
small, narrow wash-room, no larger and no better fitted up 
than those on many of the day coaches on the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad. Beyond this lavatory was another com- 
partment, about as large as the one at the opposite end. 
This had a long leather seat against its back. Here were 
the only comfortable seats in the carriage. Its system of 
ventilation was as bad as that of the ordinary English 
railway coach. The Marquis of Salisbury came down 
buttoned up tightly in a black frock coat, carrying a light 
gray overcoat over his arm. He was followed by his two 
secretaries and a man servant. He was preceded by the 
railway officials, bowing and bending, as if the honor of 
furnishing a train free to so distinguished a person was 
too great for them to bear. One moment after the Prime 
Minister's arrival the train was whisked out of the station 
and run up ahead of all the regular trains on its way to 
Windsor. 

I have found upon investigation that the English rail- 
ways have to bear the onerous task in the way of furnishing 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



127 



free transportation to prominent individuals and officials, as 
did the railroads in the United States before the passage of the 
Interstate Commerce bill. 1 was told by a railroad official the 
other day that all of the royalities travel free, and that they 
expect in addition special coaches. The visiting- royalties 
have also been furnished free transportation, and in many 
instances special trains. This pass system must be very 
expensive. Coming up from Portsmouth the other day I 
got a seat on the special train assigned to the members of 
the House of Peers. These peers had with them innumer- 
able relatives, and I noticed at one of the stations where 
the guard came along to take up the tickets that he looked 
very much surprised when I gave him one. It was appar- 
ently the only ticket taken up by him on the train. Every 
peer and peeress and every peer and peeress in prospect 
and every peer's and peeress's relatives had passes. 

This naval review at Portsmouth has been the only 
public place of interest which I have visited since coming 
to England where I did not have to pay two or three 
times more tham was indicated as the cost of the trip in 
the advertisement. The reason of this, I soon found, 
was that it was an entertainment gotten up for the higher 
classes and was therefore made cheap for them. Any 
entertainment given where the general public is permitted 
to go results in double charges all round, but at the Ports- 
mouth review the railroad fare was not increased, and 
this was the only expense, because the naval officers were 
required to furnish luncheon to their visitors and make 
no charge. I understand the majority of the members of 
the House of Commons also had passes on this trip. 

The speed of the English railway system has always 
been greatly exaggerated in the United States. You con- 
stantly hear there of trains being run in England, as a 
common thing, at the rate of sixty miles an hour. On 
the average their trains are much slower than ours. Their 
local trains are simply abominations on account of the 
slowness of their speed and their long delays at stations. 
The average train in England does not run above thirty 
miles an hour. Their tracks and road-beds are better than 
ours on the average, but their cars are so much more un- 
comfortable that the superiority of their road-beds does 
not compensate. Their tracks, however, are no better than 
are found upon some of our trunk lines, such as the Penn- 



128 ENGLISH LIFE. 

sylvania. Coming up from Portsmouth the other night 
the Peers' Special, as it was called, was run independently, 
at an alleged high rate of speed and without delays, yet 
the train was over three hours going one hundred miles. 
It was run at very irregular rates of speed — there would 
be a spurt of sixty miles an hour and then it would come 
down to twenty five without any apparent reason. 



CHAPTER III. 

A VISIT TO CARDINAL MANNING, ONE OF THE GREAT CATHOLIC 
PRINCES. 

I saw Cardinal Manning the other day at the Arch- 
bishop's house, Westminster. I wrote him a note asking 
for the pleasure of an interview and received a prompt 
reply by return of post. The Archbishop's house is a 
black stone building between Victoria Street, where the 
United States Legation is, and the river. The exterior of 
the building does not suggest the character of the place, 
and looks like a great, gloomy, wholesale store-house. 
Inside its black, forbidding portals you find light, exces- 
sive cleanliness, beautifully arranged rooms, and the at- 
mosphere representative of quiet which belongs to every 
well-managed public building. The messenger at the 
door showed me into a large ante-room below, and then 
a moment after I was taken upstairs to the ante-room 
adjoining the Cardinal's private reception chamber. This 
room is very long, wide, with very high ceilings. The 
windows were so broad and high as to leave very little of 
the outside wall. The ceilings are white, the walls are neu- 
tral in tint, while the floor is dark and polished, covered 
with rugs. Around the room hang numerous pictures of 
the saints and of various Biblical subjects. There are 
also in the room a number of bookcases filled with books, 
Scattered round the room are a number of handsome old- 
fashioned chairs, some in plain mahogany and leather, 
others in French gilt and red tapestry. In the centre is 
a round table covered with dark red cloth, upon which lie 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



129 



books written upon the subjects of art, religion and church 
architecture. In the centre is a beautiful bronze figure 
of the Virgin Mary cast from metal of the bronze cannon 
captured during the Crimean war. The dignified, solemn 
servant left me here in this room, and within five minutes 
the black doors of the private, room on the left opened 
and there entered, not his servant, but the Cardinal him- 
self. He invited me to walk into his private library. 

The Cardinal is very tall, he is over six feet in height. 
He is very slender. Advancing age has rounded slightly 
his shoulders. He wore the long black cassock of the 
priest. It was trimmed with red. The buttons clown 
the front were also red. As he walked crimson stockings 
showed above his low cut shoes from under his black 
flowing skirt. Walking with a long stride to the hard 
leather high-backed chair near the table the Cardinal 
motioned me to a chair near him and then turned. As he 
sat there he presented a most interesting and picturesque 
appearance. The pose, dress and positive character of 
this distinguished prelate of the Roman Catholic Church 
would have made a picture painted as he sat in the soft 
light from the window. His dark red Cardinal's cap was 
brought forward and slightly over one ear, giving him a 
rather dashing appearance. His aristocratic features and 
long white hands indicated a man of the highest intellec- 
tual and aristocratic type. His face is particularly gentle 
and kindly in its expression. His forehead is broad and 
high. His eyes are dark gray, well sunken under pro- 
jecting eyebrows. His nose is a fierce, aristocratic 
Roman. His face is quite angular and is, of course, 
smooth-shaven. His check-bones are high, with a large 
depression in the hollow of the chin. His mouth is thin- 
lipped and straight. His chin is pointed, projecting and 
most positive in its lines. His neck is long and was half 
hidden by a pink linen collar standing up squarely around 
his neck and circled by a black tie, over which was 
twisted a long gold chain. He twisted in his hands a 
pair of steel-bowed eyeglasses as he talked about the 
policy of the Church, and its relations to the Labor 
question. He spoke with the greatest deliberation, 
enunciating with the greatest distinctness every word. 
His voice was at no time raised above the ordi- 



1 30 ENGLISH LIFE. 

nary tone. It was the easy, gracious talk of a man of the 
world of the highest class. There was a gentleness and 
simplicity of bearing in his manner which were most pre- 
possessing. When the conversation was finished he ex- 
tended to me his hand and said that at any time if the 
New York World desired any information from him con- 
cerning the Church or its policy, so far as it was known 
to him, he would be glad at all times to furnish such in- 
formation. He was very much interested in the United 
States and in the problems which are yet to be solved 
there. He believes fully in the daylight of public discus- 
sion, and is in no sympathy with the public men who 
pursue their ends through secret and devious ways. He 
argues that what is kept hidden is not good, and that, 
therefore, however good objects sought to be accom- 
plished by secret societies may be they are more than 
counterbalanced by the evil of the system of secrecy. 

The private library is a beautiful room and about half 
as large as the ante-room. It is lined with old books 
from the ceiling to the floor. Some of these books are 
priceless in value. It is a wonderful library of reference 
and of historical association. There is a simplicity and 
dignity about the surroundings of the Cardinal more im- 
pressive than the more'formal systems of ceremony to be 
found in any of the houses of royalty in England. 

The Cardinal looks more like a statesman than a priest. 
He has an appearance of force and of power of a most 
uncommon kind. He looked like a leader of men. 
There was something of the military air in his resolute, 
quick, decisive way of disposing of matters presented to 
him. The man who reaches a high position in the com- 
pact military organization of the Catholic Church must of 
necessity be a man of ability and character. There is 
certainly no such dignitary in the Protestant Church of 
England who can for one moment, in point of ability and 
force of character, be compared with this distinguished 
Prince of the Catholic Church. The Archbishop of Can- 
terbury is an amiable, gentle old man, who takes life as 
easily as possible and who never concerns himself with 
anything outside of the narrow technical duties of his 
office. Cardinal Manning, I should say, from his style 
and manner, combines the duties of priest, diplomatist and 
statesman. Another thing that I noticed about him was 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



131 



that he spoke the English language without any marked 
"English'' accent — he spoke as does Mr. Gladstone and 
the highest types of English public men. The so-called 
English accent, which is occasionally imitated by some 
of our Anglo-maniacs, is nothing but cockneyism refined 
and subdued, perhaps, but still cockneyism at the bottom. 
The cockneys and the uneducated classes use the exces- 
sively broad A and exaggerated forms of dialect which 
influence to a certain degree the better educated classes 
who are obliged to come in contact with them. The 
servant classes to a large extent are responsible for the 
peculiarities of speech of the educated English people 
who have never been able to overcome the influence of 
the servants in their associations with them at a tender 
age. The mass of the people in England are uneducated. 
The result is great impurity of speech by the majority, and 
that majority's imperfections must have its influenceupon 
a higher class minority. I do not think that it can be suc- 
cessfully disputed that the English language is spoken 
with greater purity by the masses in the United States 
than here, and that the average of our educated people 
speak with much greater purity and with much better 
accent than do the educated people of this most self-satis- 
fied and self-reliant of nations. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE ENGLISH POSTAL SYSTEM, AND THE LONDON POLICE ENG- 
LISH ADMINISTRATION OE JUSTICE. 

The English postal system is an excellent one. It is 
conducted at a profit The surplus money of its revenues 
is applied each year to the improvement of the service. 
Its carrier system has developed to such a degree that 
letters and papers are delivered throughout the rural dis- 
tricts with nearly as much frequency as in the cities. 
The postman makes his round so often that private let- 
ter-boxes are almost unknown in the English postal sta- 



1 32 ENGLISH LIFE. 

tions. In the city of London the mail is collected from 
the street boxes, or pillars, as they are called, every hour 
after 8.15 in the morning up to midnight. Between mid- 
night and 8.15 there is an early morning collection at 3 
o'clock. None of the mails taken up at the pillar post for 
local delivery go to the main ofhce. They are all carried 
to sub-stations, and from there sent out. The system is 
so complete for the collection and carrying out of letters 
that you can send a letter by post to the most distant part 
of London and receive a reply by mail about as quickly 
as you could send and receive an answer by telegraph. 
By this I mean a message sent through the ordinary 
working of the telegraph system. The telegraph service, 
also conducted by the Post-Office, does not compare for 
one moment with the rapid mail service. The Post-Office 
Department also does an express business throughout the 
United Kingdom, and even distant colonies. This ser- 
vice is called the parcels post. It corresponds to our ex- 
press service. By this post very bulky articles are carried 
at a very low rate. 

I came into personal contact with the iron-clad rules of 
the British postal system the other day when I sought to 
recover a letter which had been mailed through mistake. 
It was not an important matter, but in the United States I 
never have had any trouble in getting back a letter from 
the postal authorities when I was able satisfactorily to 
identify the letter, so I thought the experiment was worth 
trying here. I went to a pillar post where a postman 
was to arrive ten minutes after the letter had been put 
into it I explained the matter to a friendly policeman 
close by, and he said there would be no trouble in getting 
my letter. I had the address of the letter and, as the en- 
velope had a monogram on its back, there was no possi- 
bility of any mistake in identifying it. In a few moments 
the postman arrived. He was dressed in a blue soldier- 
like uniform, trimmed with red. He wore a French mili- 
tary cap, also blue and trimmed with red. Over his 
shoulder he carried a long, loose hempen bag, such as a 
farmer might use for gathering apples. There was no 
lock or string to fasten the mouth of the bag. When the 
postmen had emptied the post-box I explained what I 
wished. He was frightened at my asking for a letter and 
twisted up the bag at once, saying he could not even 



ENGLISH LIFE. 133 

consider such a proposition, but if I wished I could go 
with him to the station and submit the matter there to the 
official in charge. I walked along- with him. This little 
British postman appeared to be walking at a very leisure- 
ly pace, but I soon found that to keep up with him re- 
quired very unusual exertion on my part. He took a 
very short step, but his hobnailed shoes came down very 
fast on the sidewalk. His gait was at least five miles an 
hour going to the station. 

At the station another official in blue uniform referred 
me to the inspector, a short, resolute, full bearded man in 
civilian dress. He said nothing could be done. A letter 
once posted was the property of the addressee and the 
Postmaster-General was responsible for the same until it 
was delivered. He asked me to read the rule. I did so, 
and found the rule forbade the surrender of mail matter, 
after it was once posted, to the person posting it ; but at 
the foot of the rule I found a possible exception to it in an 
appeal to the secretary of the Postmaster-General. This 
gave me a new leg to stand on. I then called on the 
postmaster of the station. I asked him how long before 
the letter would be sent out of the station for delivery. 
He said within three-quarters of an hour. I asked him 
if he would hold the letter if I got an order from the sec- 
retary to the Postmaster-General. He said he would 
certainly obey any order of that official, but he would not 
hold hack the letter one second without such an order. 

I left him, having three-quarters of an hour to go some 
three miles down in the city to reach the secretary. 
Through the underground railroad I was able to get to the 
main department within twenty-five minutes, and in ten 
minutes more, with very little ceremony — not so much as 
would be required to reach the Postmaster-General at 
Washington — I was ushered into the presence of the 
working head of the English Post-Office Department, the 
secretary to the Postmaster-General. I asked him if he 
would consent to give back the letter, lie was exces- 
sively polite, but absolutely unyielding. He said he had 
no doubt about my ability to identify the letter. He was 
sorry that he could do nothing, but the rule was one to 
which his department had adhered lor years withoul any 
favor to anyone. He said: " I have before me nearly 
every day people representing all conditions and degrees 



*34 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



of life in England seeking to have letters given back to 
them which have been posted through mistake ; but we 
never have waived the rule." I said : "The object of the 
rule is undoubtedly to protect the interests of the public ? *' 

"Certainly that is the object." 

"Then you who make the rule and can suspend it at 
will certainly ought to have some discretion. If you are 
convinced that no public injury can be done, then you 
surely can safely suspend the rule." 

" What would our subordinates say if we should break 
our own rules ? " 

' ' Those rules are made for your subordinates, who should 
have no discretion in the matter ; but no subordinate 
would have any right to question the discretion of the 
rule-making powers." 

He shook his head at this and said it was not a matter 
for argument. The English Post-Office Department never 
waived its rules. I then asked him if he would not do so 
if he were confronted with a case where the delivery of a 
letter would develop some domestic tragedy or a great 
scandal. At this he said : 

" I have ruled upon your case, and you must confess 
it was not serious. I will decide the serious one when it 
is actually presented. I am not in the habit of making 
hypothetical decisions upon hypothetical cases. How- 
ever, I have no hesitation in saying to you that I do not 
believe the rule would be broken even then. At any rate 
I should not so act without consulting our solicitor." 

"But meanwhile, under your system of swift delivery 
and the rule that no letter should be delayed in its. trans- 
mission, the letter would be delivered before you could 
reach your solicitor." 

"Ah," said he, "I see that you admire the perfection 
of our postal system, and although it hits you a little hard 
now you must confess it is the best postal system in the 
world, and we keep it that way by rigidly adhering to our 
well-considered rules." 

Through practical illustration I learned something of 
the police laws of London the other day. I drove from 
The World office into the city and left my umbrella in 
the hansom cab. I had hardly walked into the place 
where I was calling when I thought of my umbrella. I 
went back at once. The cabman was gone. I asked a 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



135 



neighboring' cabman which direction he had taken, and 
explained to him my loss. He said : " He could not give 
you the umbrella if he were here. Every cabman is 
bound to turn in everything he finds in his cab to the 
police and cannot give up an article after the owner has 
left the cab to any one except the police. " You will find 
your umbrella," said he, "at Scotland Yard." I sent to 
Scotland Yard the next morning for it and also sent its 
description. The superintendent of the Lost Property 
Department sent me up a printed form which I had to fill 
out, in which I was made to tell the exact hour I had 
taken the cab and the time I had dismissed it ; also the 
number of the cab, if possible, and a full description of 
the property, my private address and my business. After 
fulfilling all of these requirements I sent down to Scotland 
Yard and found that there was one requirement not men- 
tioned in the form which had to be fulfilled before I could 
recover my property. I found that there was an act of 
Parliament directing cab-drivers, under heavy penalties, 
to turn over all property found in their cabs to the police. 
It also provided that they should be paid an award for 
compliance with the act of half a crown in the pound on 
the value of ordinary articles. For jewelry they receive 
three shillings in a pound. This money is all given to 
the cabman, so the police people say. There is one com- 
forting certainty about the act. So rigidly is this law en- 
forced that you cannot possibly lose anything in a cab or 
a public conveyance. The second certainty is, if you do 
temporarily lose an article, 12 per cent, of its value will 
have to be paid for its recovery. 

An American friend of mine who was robbed at one of 
the hotels was placed in a most embarrassing position 1>v 
the fact that the police recovered all of his property which 
was stolen. In this connection it should be carefully 
noted by American visitors at London that the hotel pro- 
prietors here are not liable for any property stolen from 
the rooms of their guests. At least that is what hotel 
guests are told. The hotel thieves are generally well- 
dressed, well-appearing people. They lounge about, and 
whenever they see a key left in a careless place by a 
guest, they pick it up and visit the room on a chance of 
what they can find. These thieves generally carry over- 
coats over their left arms. In the pockets of these eoats 



136 KXGLISI1 LIFE. 

and under diem they are able to store away the property 
stolen. My friend, who had every article of wearing 
apparel except what he had on, and a large number of 
small articles purchased for presents at home, stolen from 
his room, found that when the police caught the thief and 
recovered the stolen goods he could not touch one of 
the articles until after the trial. He was also informed 
that he would be obliged to remain in London as a Witness 
against the thief and that the trial could not come off for 
at least two months. This is the situation which would 
be occupied by the average visitor in London who falls a 
victim to the hotel thief. My friend could not afford to 
remain. He had business engagements at home of the 
utmost importance to him. When he found that he him- 
self was under the surveillance of the detectives to pre- 
vent his going away he bolted and escaped to the Conti- 
nent, going home in that direction. When the case came 
up against the hotel thief there was no one to prose- 
cute. The fact that the average guest of a hotel has but 
a limited time at his disposal is the greatest possible shield 
to the hotel thieves. 

In the same way I had explained to me the other night 
why the police are so reluctant to make arrests in the 
streets of London at night. In a previous letter I de- 
scribed the brigandage and the lawlessness of the Strand 
after midnight. The police never interfere. The reason 
I found to be this : The police are on duty from 6 o'clock 
at night until 6 o'clock in the morning. If they make an 
arrest during the night they will be obliged to be in the 
police court in full-dress uniform at 10 o'clock the next 
morning, and may perhaps have to remain on duty all 
day waiting to testify, so that any arrest they may make 
is equivalent to their sentencing themselves to go without 
sleep for the next twenty-four hours. It is, therefore, not 
to be wondered at that they are reluctant to make arrests. 
The law in England relating to witnesses appears to be 
as arduous and as hard upon those who are called upon 
to prosecute as in the city of New York, where a witness 
is often more severely punished than the criminal him- 
self. 

I have always heard the English courts of justice de- 
scribed as models for the entire world. The swiftness and 
fairness of their decisions have been constant themes for 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



m 



admiration by all of my legal acquaintances in the United 
States, but a nearer view of the English system of admin- 
istering so-called justice, does not present so attractive a 
picture. It is true that in cases involving great crimes, 
to which public attention is attracted, the methods of pro- 
cedure are in the main most admirable. The man who 
takes life in the United Kingdom is given very short shrift 
if the evidence is at all clear, but in minor cases, too small 
to attract public notice, I am constantly hearing stories 
of the most revolting injustice. 

It was only last week that one of the most cruel stories 
of wrong was brought in a suit against a man in the hum- 
bler walks of life, to recover the sum of £1,000 lent to 
him several years ago. None of the great London papers 
has noticed this case ; no high-minded member of Parlia- 
ment has brought this story of injustice to the attention 
of the Government authorities. This is the case briefly : 
The defendant in the suit for the £1,000 was arrested 
several months ago, charged with stealing silks from the 
Great Western Railway Company. It was shown in the 
court that the goods were taken by a man with a long 
black beard. The defendant was a smooth-faced blonde. 
The case against him utterly failed, in the opinion of the 
Judge, as his identity with the thief was never proved ; 
yet, as he had been arrested and imprisoned, the railway 
company pushed the case against the prisoner to secure 
a conviction. If they had failed they would have been 
liable to a suit for damages upon a charge of false im- 
prisonment. The power of this great corporation was 
used to secure a conviction. The jury, by the ingenious 
arguments of the attorneys of the railway company, found 
the defendant guilty. Under the law the lowest sentence 
that could be passed upon him was seven years' penal 
servitude. The Judge was obliged to pass this sentence, 
yet he made such a decision that the prisoner was able to 
use it in his appeal to the Home Secretary. It was such 
an outrageous conviction that the mere recitation of the 
facts in the case when laid before the Queen, secured a 
prompt pardon. He then sought to recover damages 
against the railway company. He was met in court with 
the statement that, having been convicted for a penal 
offence, he was dead in the eyes of the law, and could 
not therefore bring suit. His pardon, which established 



138 ENGLISH LIFE. 

the fact of his innocence in the strongest terms, was not ' 
sufficient to give him standing in court. 

This last week in court, when sued, the defendant set 
up this strange plea. He said, in effect : " My business 
has been ruined. I have lost all my money through an 
unjust prosecution. I have been told by the highest 
court in England that I am dead in the eyes of the law 
and cannot sue to recover damages. I now wish to avail 
myself of this decision for protection. If I cannot sue, 
how can I be sued ? " The learned Judge was obliged to 
take time to consider this new point. He said such a 
case had never before been presented to him. Even he 
admitted the tremendous injustice which had been perpe- 
trated upon this poor man, but was puzzled to find where 
the law could be construed, without amendment, so that 
he could be helped. 

The police magistrate system of London is now threat- 
ened with general investigation. It appears from the de- 
velopments thus far brought out in the investigation of 
the Cass case that the police magistrates depend entirely 
upon the testimony of the police and that any story which 
any policeman may see fit to tell will outbalance any 
other class of evidence. The police now, to justify their 
arrest of the innocent Miss Cass, have been seeking to 
gather evidence to smirch her character. A more in- 
famous line of procedure, far exceeding the outrage of 
the original arrest, has never been developed. A second 
case of police outrage, which has attracted but little at- 
tention occurred last year. A lady living in the suburbs 
of London had occasion to make complaint because a 
rough climbed on to her garden wall and broke off a 
branch from one of her fruit trees. She reported the case 
to the constable. He arrested the rough and the lady 
was notified to appear before the police magistrate of her 
district to give testimony against the prisoner. This lady 
when she went to the court was placed in a room where 
witnesses are detained. Making a mistake she endeavor- 
ed to go too soon into the court-room, when she thought 
her case was called. The constable at the door ordered 
her back and in pushing her away struck her three times 
in the breast. She was so overcome by this assault that 
she could not appear in court when her case was called, 
and the rough arrested was released, being escorted from 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



J 39 



court in great triumph by his friends. This lady after- 
wards submitted to the court the report of a surgeon 
showing the injuries she had received, but the constable 
was not even reprimanded, the magistrate saying that he 
believed the word of the constable against the evidence 
of the surgeon. The constable said he had merely pushed 
the woman back. For this outrageous treatment there 
has been an appeal made to the Chief of the Police, Sir 
Charles Warren, but probably with this result, that the 
public will never near any more of it. 

The latest case of judicial outrage I do not believe could 
have happened in any town in the United States. This 
occurred at Ilkington. The criminal in the case was a 
six-year-old baby boy. He was accused of having stolen 
a watch. The boy said he found the watch. The 
mother restored it promptly to the owner. The baby 
might have been given the benefit of the doubt at least. 
The owner — good, virtuous Pharisee — complained. The 
police executed the warrant in the middle of the night. 
The little lad was dragged out of bed between one and 
two o'clock in the morning. Think of that ! He was 
locked up until the next morning. Then the magistrate 
ordered that he should be birched. This was done with 
such cruelty that the little man's body was cut open in 
six places, reaching around his back on to his stomach. 
Think of the devilish cruelty of this punishment and of 
such a little fellow ! I am told the Queen reads no paper 
but the Morning Post. As no mention of this case has 
ever been printed in that paper I presume that she will 
not hear of it. The Home Secretary is supposed to be 
investigating the case, but you may be sure nothing will 
come of it. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE PRINCE OF VALES AT SMOKING CONCERTS. 

One of the features of London social life unknown in 
the United States is the smoking concert. There are sev- 
eral societies throughout Loudon which give smoking 



i 4 o ENGLISH LIFE. 

concerts. These are considered the most interesting forms 
of entertainment. Only gentlemen attend. Evening 
dress is requisite. The members sit about in an informal 
way and smoke during the rendering of a good programme. 
It is a happy combination of formality and informality. 
Generally these organizations are made up of men of 
leisure, who find an occupation in the study of the arts. 
One of the most noted of the fashionable amateur organ- 
izations is the Ro3^al Amateur Orchestral Society, which 
holds meetings once a month during the winter in the 
Prince's Hall, Piccadilly. This is the society whose 
President is the Duke of Edinburgh. It is especially 
favored by the royal family. "Patronized" is the ex- 
pression, I believe, to use. The Prince of Wales always 
attends its concerts. It is one of the few places where he 
comes early and remains until the close of the programme. 
This society has an orchestra of eighty members. Each 
member is supposed to be a gentleman of leisure, or of a 
titled family. When the Duke of Edinburgh is on duty at 
London he personally conducts the orchestra. Now it is 
under the lead of a professional. Occasionally profes- 
sionals assist during the evening in giving the different 
numbers of the programme, but the orchestral work is all 
by amateurs and members of the society. 

I attended one of these concerts of this society the 
other evening. A member of the society furnished me a 
ticket, the price of which was ten shillings. Any one can 
purchase these tickets and attend these concerts if he is 
known by any member of the society. No cigars are 
sold in the hall. People who wish to smoke bring their 
cigars or cigarettes with them. Brandy, Scotch and Irish 
whisky with soda, are furnished throughout the hall, up- 
stairs and down, without any extra charge. The slang 
ex-London expression for taking a drink is the thoroughly 
odious phrase of "taking a ball." "Will you take a 
ball ? " says one heavy swell to another when he wishes 
him to take a drink. It is the most meaningless and 
stupid of phrases. Generally slang has some basis of 
reason or ordinary suggestion, but I fail to see any in 
this form of expression. 

I was told that this was one of the places where the 
Prince of Wales came and unbent and freed himself from all 
formality. It was at these concerts that he placed him- 



ENGLISH LIFE. 14 I 

self on a perfect footing- of equality with the members of 
the society. It was here that he came and sat among- them 
in a free and easy way, drinking his brandy and soda and 
smoking his cigar during the performance as if he were 
an ordinary visitor. It would hardly be correct to say 
that this represents the position of the Prince of Wales 
at these concerts. I don't see how more formality 
could be extended to any one, and the equality spoken 
of was not even suggested. In the first place he 
came in by a side entrance, attended by his famil- 
iar, the Hon. H. Terwhitt Wilson. The Prince was 
in plain evening dress. As he solemnly entered the 
entire audience arose, as does the Congress of the United 
States at the entrance of the President elect upon Inaugu- 
ration Day. This audience stood in a respectful attitude 
until the Prince of Wales had advanced into an open 
square at one end of the hall Justin front of the orchestra. 
This open square was lined about with sofas and seats, 
with a table in the centre upon which were two vases filled 
with flowers. The Prince took a seat upon the sofa in the 
centre, facing the orchestra. Until he sat down the audi- 
ence remained standing. No one present was expected 
to enter this square except upon invitation of the Prince 
unless he were a high official or of a rank which entitled 
him to a familiar social relation with the Prince. There 
was a special table just beyond this square, against the 
wall, for the Prince of Wales' refreshments. His own 
servant, in red livery, stood there against the wall all the 
evening ready to respond to the slightest gesture of his 
master. This little square where the Prince sat was filled 
Up soon after his arrival by prominent and distinguished 
men. The Lord Chamberlain, who is neverfar away from 
the Prince of Wales, sat at his left and Mr. Wilson upon his 
right. No one of the dignitaries inside the square spoke 
to the Prince of Wales unless he first addressed them. 
Every one present appeared to follow the movements of 
the bored Prince with as much interest as if he had never 
seen him before. The Prince led the applause. No one 
presumed to applaud unless he first approved He would 
cry out at different times "Good, good," and then the 
audience would become frantic in its approval. During 
the wait between the first and second parts the Prince sent 
for Hcrr Schoenberger, a pianist who had pleased him 



1 42 ENGLISH LIFE. 

very much, and personally complimented him. The 
pianist fairly writhed with ecstasy as he bowed again and 
again before the Prince. If he ever arrives at heaven's 
gate and is admitted without any personal investigation 
into the abode of the blest he will never be happier than 
he was that evening. The Prince appeared to have a real 
fondness for the music. He followed with unflagging 
interest the rendering of every number and showed a real 
appreciation in his applause and approval. Yet it was so 
funny to watch him and his audience about him and think 
that this — what a number of English gentlemen had told 
me — was where the Prince came to unbend, and to become 
"one of the boys," as a member of the society described 
it. I never saw any one surrounded with more formality 
and there was not the faintest suggestion of familiarity 
from beginning to end. 

Every person who attends this concert is required to 
sign his name on the visitors' book. A glance over this 
book at any time will give a list of some of the most prom- 
inent names in London. The Prince himself signs the 
book. His name always heads the list, a vacant space 
being left for his name and those of his suite when he 
chances to come a little late. The book is left at the 
upper end of the hall, where the members come in. Quill 
pens are used. Nearly all of the autographs are written 
in bold, clear hands. The autograph of Albert Edward is 
written in very large characters, and has a sweeping 
splash of ink drawn back under it in a defiant curve. 
This book contains a most interesting collection of auto- 
graphs of distinguished English people, and also the 
names of the most prominent foreigners. There is not 
a diplomat or statesmen of Europe who comes to London 
who does not go to some one of these smoking concerts. 
When the concert is fairly under way there is a blue cloud 
of smoke which hangs over the audience like a fog. But 
the hall is so large that the atmosphere never becomes 
thick or heavy, at least, so as to be noticeable by the 
smokers below. Ladies are never invited to attend. 
There are two boxes with curtains overlooking this hall. 
Into one of these the Princess of Wales came one night for 
the purpose of gratifying her curiosity concerning this 
rather unique form of entertainment. But these boxes were 
several feet above the stage, right in the region of the, 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



J 43 



densest smoke. The Princess found that the smoke was 
so thick that she began to choke. She was not able to 
remain overlive minutes before she betrayed her presence 
by a cough, and then she precipitately retired, and has 
never ventured upon the experiment since. 

It is an odd sight to see the leader of an orchestra 
smoking as he leads, and to notice members of the or- 
chestra catching up cigars or cigarettes during a slight rest 
in the rendering of some intricate classical piece. But 
the smoking of the orchestra only appears to stimulate 
them to greater nicety, as they play with great delicacy, 
accuracy and expression. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE SUPERIOR POSITION", OCCUPIED BY COLORED PEOPLE IN ENG- 
LAND, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Colored people who are ambitious for association with 
white people and to escape the social inferiority of their 
position in the United States, should emigrate to England. 
In this country there does not appear to be any prejudice 
against the colored brother. In fact there appears to be 
a prejudice in his favor. There are not many negroes in 
England in proportion to the whites, but those who are 
here appear to be specially delighted with their situation. 
The negroes in England have free intercourse and com- 
panionship with the whites of a corresponding and even 
superior grade of intelligence and education. I have seen 
any number of negro men out walking or riding with white 
women, well dressed, respectable and intelligent looking. 
It is also common enough to see negro women attending 
by clean-cut, good-looking Englishmen. If the negro 
woman does not have a white attendant, it is because she 
prefers one of her own race. I have seen a number of 
negro men and women in England but 1 have invariably 
seen them in company with whites. I do not remember 
having seen negro men or women in company. Having 
nearly the entire white population of England to pick 



144 ENGLISH LIFE. 

and choose from, they have naturally shown a discrim- 
ination against their own color. The only noticeable 
prejudice, therefore in England against the negro comes 
from the negroes themselves. Last Sunday, going up the 
river to Kew, there came on board the little steamer at the 
Chelsea pier a fair-complexioned, blue-eyed blond. Her 
color was clear and her manner that of a neat housemaid 
or upper servant. She was dressed in black, with a small 
black astrachan fur cap flattened down upon her yellow 
hair. She was in the company of the meanest-looking negro 
specimen I have ever seen. He was small, lean, and 
almost weazened. He was undersized and shabby. He 
had the unwholesome color of the offspring of a very low 
specimen of white trash united with a degraded mulat- 
tress. He was a most mongrel representative of a 
bleached-out, degenerate branch of the negro family. 
His eyes were small, catty, and yellowish through his 
faded, furtive black pupils. His teeth were dirty, broken 
and decayed. His scanty, ragged beard partly concealed 
his unwholesome looking face. A thick mane, which was 
neither wool nor hair, but a dirty black mass somewhere 
between the two, stood out from his small head under a 
low-crowned soft hat. This degenerated specimen of 
humanity was looked up to by this fresh-faced, neatly 
dressed English maid as if he were a person of superior 
rank and position. As they sat down upon the side of 
the rail her negro companion passed his lean, yellow-nailed 
hand round her waist under her cloak and gazed up into 
her clean-looking face with an expression of leering sat- 
isfaction. Such a spectacle in a public conveyance in the 
Southern regions would undoubtedly have led to their 
both being pitched overboard. As it was, no one but a 
small group of Americans on board the vessel appeared 
to notice this strange companionship. 

I have been living this summer in what are called in 
London residential flats, near Hyde Park. There are 
several porters employed about these flats. One of them 
is a New York negro who acquired his education and 
knowledge of mankind as porter in a Pullman car and 
afterwards in one of the New York hotels. He wears a 
double-breasted brass-buttoned blue frock livery, with 
round, fiat-topped cap, which has a square visor. He is 
a most imposing individual. He has the soft, melodious 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



H5 



voice of the best type of his race. He is a clean, manly- 
looking- fellow. He is the hero of all the cooks and 
housemaids of the entire fiats. This porter is on duty at 
night. He always moves about escorted by several 
admiring white servant girls. He hardly ever has less 
than six in his company. They stand in the most admir- 
ing positions. No Bunthorne was ever surrounded by 
more complete postures of adoration. But this porter 
takes all this admiration gravely. He evidently has a 
very poor opinion of white people who run after negroes. 
He permits the servant girls to run after him, but not 
much more. All of the girls speak to him with the pre- 
fix of " Mr." before his name. None of the white porters 
are honored in this way. They are all called by their 
first names, although two or three of them are men ad- 
vanced in life and the heads of large families. The 
colored porter is always Mr. Brooks. One of the tidiest 
of these servant girls, born and reared in the country 
and who has not yet lost the fresh color acquired in her 
farm life, expressed the other day a fervent desire that 
when she had a husband she hoped he would be just such 
a nice black man as Mr. Brooks. 

Coming out of Paddington Station the other morning I 
saw a four-wheeled cab drive up with a rattle and crash. 
Its top was covered with trunks, bags, and boxes. Six 
fresh-faced railroad porters stood in line to receive this 
splendid array of baggage. The door of the cab opened 
and out stepped a regular-featured, wholesome, alert, 
active-looking man in clerical dress. Whether a member 
of the English or the Catholic church was not apparent 
from his dress. Both wear the soft black hat so popular 
with us in the West and the regulation black frock-cut 
uniform, with white tie at the throat. After him came a 
tall, dark, lithe-figured negro girl, dressed in all the hues 
of the rainbow. A great yellow-beribboned hat perched 
upon the top of her tightly twisted and crinkled hair. She 
was about three-quarters black. Tones of yellow shone 
in the high lights upon her dusky face. She was about 
eighteen. I supposed she "was a servant girl. There 
followed directly after her another negro woman, also 
gayly dressed and about the same shade of color, and 
after her came still another, a little blacker, shorter, stout- 
er and evidently the chaperone of the party. It was 
10 



146 ENGLISH LIFE. 

clear that they were not colored Sisters of Charity. They 
were too gayly dressed for that. They stood about per- 
fectly at their ease, and appeared to regard the clergy- 
man who was with them as a person whose only occupa- 
tion in life was to look after them. It was he who took 
charge of all the baggage and who purchased all of the 
tickets, and who kept running to them with polite sug- 
gestions for their comfort and convenience, and when it 
was time for the train it was the youngest, the one who 
wore the yellow-ribboned hat perched high upon her head, 
who took his arm and with a real cake-walk swagger 
marched to a first-class compartment, followed by her 
dusky companions. This compartment was specially 
reserved, and when the train pulled out the priest sat 
facing his three colored fairies, listening with rapture and 
attention to their lively remarks and gleeful giggles, 
which occasionally broke into real darky laughter. 

Viewing the utter absence of prejudice against colored 
people in England I do not think better advice could be 
given to colored people who are ambitious than to come 
here. Those in the South who have had their political 
aspirations cut short by the energetic action of white 
leaguers, by the insinuation of tissue ballots and by ex- 
cessive skill upon the part of whites in counting votes, 
should by all means come to England. There is nothing 
here to stand in the way of their advancement. They 
would be able to strengthen at once a naturally prominent 
position freely accorded to them by the English masses. 
By judicious marriage backed by the admiration of the 
white race I do not see what should stand between them 
and Parliament, or even the Cabinet. The English are 
very fond of oratory and the negroes with us have a 
special gift in that direction. One of the most eloquent 
negroes who ever spoke in Congress, Elliot, a simon pure 
negro, received his education at the University of Ox- 
ford, England. 



ENGLISH LIFE. 147 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE ENGLISH SOLDIERS, AND FEATS OF SKILL SHOWN BY "TOMMY 
ATKINS " DARING HORSEMANSHIP. 

The English soldiers are very familiar figures in the 
life of London. There are several thousand always 
stationed in the London barracks. The private soldiers 
are all fine-looking men. They are carefully selected. 
They are tall, broad-shouldered, straight, manly-looking 
men. They have a set-up not to be found in any of the 
soldiers of the Continental armies. They are to be seen 
in every public place in London, in their tightly buttoned 
up coats, with a ridiculous pill-box cap strapped down 
over one ear. They generally walk in groups of three 
or four, swinging their little switch canes, swaggering in 
a way that thrills the nurse-maids and servant girls with 
quivers of admiration. These splendid physical types 
form the material for the finest army of modern times. 
But the English army is badly managed. The administra- 
tion of the army is strangely behind that of the armies of 
modern Europe. It is the very last to adopt any im- 
provements in the art of warfare. Favor controls the 
best appointments. The chief in command, the Duke 
of Cambridge, holds that command only through his title. 
He is no soldier and knows nothing of military science. 
In Parliament, every time the subject of appropriations for 
the army comes up, stories are given, almost without num- 
ber, of waste and incompetency in the army. Gordon 
lost his life owing to defective ammunition. Some of 
the worst casualties of the Zulu war, came from the pri- 
vate soldiers becoming helpless through the jamming of 
worthless cartridges in their guns. 

There is no army in the world where the soldiers re- 
ceive a more rigorous physical training. Some of the 
magnificent results of this most excellent system of physi- 
cal training I witnessed at a military tournament given 
at the Agricultural Hall, Islington. The men selected wen- 
strong, wiry, active, and splendid-looking young fellows. 



I 4 8 ENGLISH LIFE. 

All of the contestants were non-commissioned officers 
and troopers. These exhibitions attract large audiences 
and have resulted in great profits to the originators. The 
hall is large and long, with an arena eight hundred to a 
thousand feet in length and about two hundred feet in 
width. It is in this arena that all of the feats take place. 
The fencing and the contests between the sword and the 
bayonet are not so interesting as those which brought 
feats of riding into play. 

One of the first exhibitions of riding was what was 
known as lemon cutting. Two lemons were suspended 
by a thread about fifteen feet apart and hung from small 
wooden stands about the height of a cavalry rider's sword- 
arm. At a signal from the bugler the rider would come 
dashing in at one end of arena at full speed, and as he 
flew down by the lemons he would make a forward cut 
at the first thread and a back-handed cut at the next one. 
The distance between the two is very short and the speed 
was tremendous, yet two or three of the most skilful 
riders succeeded in dropping each lemon by very scien- 
tific cuts. This trial was followed by tent-pegging. In 
the first place a square peg painted white was driven well 
down in the ground, leaving about four inches standing 
above. Then various members of the corps of lancers 
would charge down at it at full speed, and in passing it 
were required to strike this peg full with the lance and 
tear it from the ground and carry it clear to the end of the 
arena upon the point of the lance. In order to constitute 
a success this was to be done without for a second check- 
ing the speed of the horse. The two heroes of this piece 
of riding were members respectively of the Life Guards 
and of the Prince's Own. The public here expect more 
from a Life Guardsman, and this particular representative 
never failed to carry off the peg. But the favorite of all 
was a young fellow from the Prince's Own Guards. He 
was round-headed, small-featured, slim-waisted, with hair 
the color of pale mustard, while his eyes were a dare- 
devil grayish-blue. He had a little wisp of a mustache 
and a neat, reckless, defiant set-up. There was in his 
manner a combination of swagger and graceful effrontery. 
He would come riding in at the peg as if there was 
thing on earth easier for him to do. He never hurried 
any of his movements, although his horse moved like a 



Eye lis a LIFE. 



149 



steam engine, and he invariably flourished his lance twice, 
and at the very last possible second would strike the peg- 
clean in the centre. At once it would fly out and go 
swinging round his head as he sat like a man of steel 
upon his magnificent bolting black-bay horse. Of all 
feats of daring and skill this rattle-headed young fellow 
was the master. Whenever he appeared the audience 
cheered in advance. 

The most interesting feature of the exhibit was the 
musical ride of the Horse Guards. Thirty-two privates 
of this showy military organization rode in upon thirty- 
two black horses. The horses as well as the men ap- 
peared to be all of the same size and age. I have never 
seen such a piece of military machinery as was exhibited 
in this series of movements. The band of horsemen 
went through their movements without a word of com- 
mand. They would first divide and go through all the 
movements of a cotillion, and then circle through the 
most complicated mazes of the most fanciful of germans. 
The men and horses would weave in and weave out of 
its various figures without a word or a motion. The 
men sat like statues upon their black horses while the 
band played shrilly, indicating the movements. The 
precision and the grace of this drill made a sight which 
the audience cheered again and again. The horses 
would change step at the change in the music. Some- 
times the evolutions were so complicated that if the 
horses engaged in it had not all gone at exactly the same 
pace and the same speed, there would have been a break 
and consequent confusion. 

One of the wonderful pieces of horsemanship was in 
the drawing of field cannon at a hand gallop about the 
arena between certain marked places. An officer of 
artillery would come dashing in, followed by a field piece 
drawn by six horses. There was an artillery rider for 
each team, with two men on the caisson. Earthen pots 
were placed about at a distance just wide enough to 
permit the heavy wheels of this great wagon to pass 
through without hitting. The thing was to drive this 
clumsy vehicle at top speed and come safely through 
every place without hitting. The officer, who goes ahead, 
acts as pilot. The horses were very large and powerful 
and as excited as those in the fire service. They came 



I 50 ENGLISH LIFE. 

in plunging and rearing with the heavy wagon at their 
rattling hoofs. It was marvellous to see how deftly and 
skilfully these clumsy engines were dragged through 
various places marked for them, and only at rare intervals 
knocking over the piece which marked the roadway. 

I noticed one feature of the English troopers' riding, 
and that was that during all these daring feats they sat in 
their saddles after the fashion of the Wild West cowboys. 
There was no attempt at any time, not even when the 
horses were trotting, to rise in the saddle. Some of the 
horses were ridden during the exhibits without saddles. 
It was a much more interesting and attractive exhibition 
of a soldier's skill than a mere drill. The firing of 
Gatling guns, the bridging of a stream under fire, the 
laying of a line of rails for an artillery engine and its use, 
were actual illustrations of various features of the Soudan 
campaign. The rapidity with which all the field pieces 
can be fired and the murderous efficacy of the improved 
Catlings, and the rapidity with which soldiers can 
discharge their breech-loaders, show that the military 
preparations in Europe have now reached such a high 
state that a war between any of the great powers would 
be of necessity a very bloody and a very brief one. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

AMERICANS IN EUROPE HOW LIVES ARE WASTED OUR INSANE 

ABROAD THE AMERICAN CLUB AMERICANS WELL RECEIVED 

FOOLISH AMERICANS SEEKING WORK IN CROWDED ENGLAND. 

There are a great many Americans living in Europe. 
There is a large colony in London and a much larger one 
in Paris. Throughout all the Continental cities there are 
increasing colonies of rich Americans. There is a large 
colony in Berlin. In the winter time Rome is thronged 
with Americans. All through the Riviera there are more 
Americans than other foreigners. Every year brings over 
a larger number of tourists from the United States. They 
bring with them as a general thing plenty of money and 



ENGLISH LIFE. I?I 

spend it freely. The American passion for visiting 
Europe results in a great loss of money to the United 
States. But the loss in the case of the tourist who comes 
for a short time for study and improvement is made up 
by the gain in the education of the visitor. But the most 
serious loss and drawback to the United States comes 
from the large emigration from the United States to Europe 
of some of our richest people. There is a very large 
number of wealthy Americans who now spend the greater 
part of their lives in the Continental cities of Europe. 
These people come over with an indefinite idea of what 
they will do and become completely enthralled by the 
life of pleasure to be had by people of leisure in Europe. 
They soon learn to forget their own country and remain 
away year after year, thinking that some time they will 
go home, but when they do they stay but a short time and 
come drifting back to their old life of ease and indolent 
travel. Some of the heads of these wandering American 
families hug to their breasts the delusion that they are 
over here for the purpose of educating their children and 
to teach them foreign languages. Their children do pick 
up a smattering of French, German, and possibly of some 
of the other Continental languages. The slight gain ob- 
tained in their facility to talk in two or three languages is 
more than lost through their lack of proper education in 
other directions. Wandering about with their parents 
they become unsettled and receive no regular, thorough 
education. They are unfitted to go home and engage in 
business and they are not fitted for anything else but the 
wandering life which they have led. If they have plenty 
of money they can manage to get along, but there are 
many cases reported at the legations of Americans who 
lose their money through long life abroad and consequent 
inattention to their business affairs at home. The result 
is often great poverty and distress. 

The greater number of Americans who live abroad labor 
under the idea thatthey are studying and improving them- 
selves. ' They are not. They are simply undergoing a 
process of denationalization. They lose all interest in 
their own country and its affairs. Their patriotism be- 
comes reduced to the lowest possible degree. They air 
always ready to chime in with the foreign critics of our 
institutions and know of no greater evil than being ban- 



<5- 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



ished from Europe. There is no other nation in the 
world that sends out such a large number of wealthy 
emigrants as ours. There is a very small number of 
English people among the foreign colonies on the Con- 
tinent. The so-called better classes of England swear by 
their own country. They would live nowhere else. You 
will never find any Englishman with such a poor opinion 
of his own country or its institutions that he will sit silent 
when they are being made the subject of adverse criti- 
cism. This trait of national character might well be emu- 
lated by our rich classes who are constantly leaving the 
United States because they find life in Europe so much 
pleasanter. They chase after the social dignitaries and 
the nobility with an earnestness that has made their am- 
bitions the by-word of European social circles. I was 
talking the other day with a prominent American, a public 
man who has spent a number of years in the diplomatic 
service, who said : "Americans should not come to Eu- 
rope except to study, or when business actually forces 
them to come. People with nothing to do here and with 
plenty of money to spend invariably waste their lives and 
destroy the future of their children if they remain too long. 
They acquire a habit of dawdling and frittering away 
their time and of chasing after the petty vanities of for- 
eign social life which are most degrading and deteriorat- 
ing. I wish that there were some way of forcing all of 
these Americans to return to the United States, where 
they might be of some use to themselves and to others. 
In European countries the rich and leisurely class turn 
their attention to politics. If these rich people who bring 
their children over to Europe to give them a so-called ed- 
ucation would keep them at home and train them for 
public careers in the United States the result would be a 
great advantage to the country. There is everything in 
public life with us to satisfy the most honorable ambition, 
and the reason our politics is not better than it is, is because 
so many of our rich people sniff contemptuously when- 
ever the word is mentioned and set their faces towards 
Europe, where politics is the very breath of life of the 
most cultivated societies." 

This same ex-diplomat said that another marked pecul- 
iarity of the people in the United States was to send their 
insane people abroad. He said : "You would be aston- 



ENGLISH LIFE. 1 53 

ished to find how many insane people are shipped over 
to Europe by their relatives, simply to get rid of them. 
Of course, I mean cases where the insanity is not so 
marked as to attract immediate notice." 

With this suggestion which I have just quoted in view, 
I called at the United States Legation and asked them 
about the correctness of this declaration. They said 
at the Legation that it was true. There was hardly a ship 
which came to England which did not bring some insane 
person from the United States. They have had calls upon 
their attention with regard to insane people within a 
week. They come to the Legation and ask for all sorts 
of impossible things. Then the English authorities are 
constantly making appeals to the Legation to take charge 
of these people. But the Legation has no authority over 
the matter any more than any visiting American. The 
Legation is constantly harassed by this class of people, 
and by another which appears from its actions to be 
worthy of being classed with the insane. These are the 
people who come to Europe with just enough money to 
bring them over here, who are confident that they will 
find some way of making a living when they get here 
and pick up enough money to carry them back. There 
is not one in a thousand of this -class who can find any- 
thing to do. The result is that they become penniless 
within a few weeks after their arrival and then besiege 
the Legation for money to go home. The most that the 
Minister can ever do for them is to cable to their friends, 
if they have any. These cases do not deserve sympathy, 
as in nearly every instance the sufferers have brought 
their own troubles upon them by their foolish visionary 
ideas of the possibilities of European life. I had only the 
other day a young slip of a boy call on me. He was 
from Washington and wanted to know if he could get 
work in any London newspaper office, so that he could 
stay here a year. I asked him if he had ever written for 
any newspaper. He said that he had never written a 
line for one. He was perfectly confident, however, that 
if he had the right kind of an introduction he could get 
on to some one of the great London dailies. I could not 
convince him that they were not anxious to take on 
American apprentices. 

Respectable Americans visiting in London have long 



I 5 4 ENGLISH LIFE. 

felt the need of having some place where they could go 
and meet their friends and make the acquaintance of de- 
sirable English people. The good English clubs do not 
have very hospitable arrangements for visitors. In none 
of the crack English clubs are visitors on a footing with 
the regular club members. The list of applicants for 
memberships in the leading clubs is so long that one has 
to wait for years to obtain admission. Exceptions are 
only made in the cases of exceptional and brilliant public 
service. During the last year or two there has been an 
exchange of views between Englishmen who are interested 
in America and the best known of the American residents 
of London, upon the subject of forming a new club. This 
has resulted in the formation of a club called the Ameri- 
can Club. It is proposed to limit the membership to 
1,000. Although the club has only been formally or- 
ganized for a few weeks its membership is filling up 
rapidly. It promises to be one of the successful clubs 
of London. It is proposed to have its membership, 
as far as is practicable, equally divided between gentle- 
men living in Great Britain, North and South America 
and the West Indies. Its character is non-political. Its 
Executive Committee has for its chairman Sir Edward 
Thornton. The members of the committee are Francis 
B. Blake, Lieut. -Gen. Sir Seymour Blane, Bart. ; Walter 
H. Burns, Capt. F. E. Chadwick, United States Naval 
Attache ; Ernest Chaplin, Col. Sir Henry Ewart, K.C.B. ; 
J. I. Fellowes, W. A. Gibson, Lieut. -Gen. Sir Gerald 
Graham, Col. Henry M. Hozier, Charles P. Phelps, 
United States Legation ; G. W. Smalley, the Viscount 
Torrington, Harry White, United States Legation, and J. 
E. Wood. This club has met from the start with the 
heartiest approval of prominent Englishmen. During 
the last year there has been a growth in the cordiality of 
feeling between Englishmen and Americans. There was 
an unusual number of prominent Americans in England 
last summer, and the present impression made by them 
during their stay has increased the English interest in 
this new club venture. This club has adopted the same 
general rules which govern the prominent clubs of Lon- 
don. Poker playing is not permitted, and only the reg- 
ulation card games are allowed, and then within formal 



ENGLISH LIFE . i 5 5 

limits. Among those on the General Committee arc 
Count De Lesseps, Sir Evelyn Baring, Lord Charles 
Beresford, Lord Berwick, Profs. Tyndall and Huxley, 
Bret Harte, Henry James, J. S. Morgan, Sir Morell 
Mackenzie, Sir Frederick Leighton, Sir John Puleston, the 
Earl of Roslyn, Viscount Strathallan, Marquis of Win- 
chester and Sir Charles Wolseley. 

In every foreign colony abroad, English or American, 
there is an endless amount of scandal and backbiting. 
Where clubs have been formed of any one nationality on 
foreign soil, they have generally failed. Experiments in 
this direction in Paris have resulted in great loss and an- 
noyance. There is a much larger resident colony of 
Americans here than in any city on the Continent. Nearly 
all the resident Americans are continually harassed by 
appeals made to them for money from very importunate 
and sometimes numerous fellow-countrymen, who have 
come over here in the hopes of bettering their fortunes, 
and who have become penniless. There are some of the 
most skilful gamblers and confidence men in the world, 
who come here at various times during the season from 
New York. The New York gamblers arc constantly 
coming to London to seek victims. These men naturally 
seize upon any opportunity to flock at once to any place 
supposed to be an American headquarters. You will find 
them in the hotels specially patronized by the Americans, 
and they belong to the lower sporting clubs. Naturally, 
some of the boldest of this class have made a dead set to 
get into the American Club, but one of the special objects 
of this club is to make it impossible for disreputable 
Americans to obtain social footing or standing in London. 
Something of this sort has long been needed. Plausible 
swindlers have been able to use the name of the Minister 
or some one of the leading banking firms of London to 
make acquaintances through the carelessness of people 
who do not always follow up a reference confidently 
given. Respectability and good financial standing are 
necessary to secure admission, candidates' credentials 
being carefully scanned. It is very easy tor any one 
who is all rigid to get into this international club, but its 
committee remorselessly blackballs every applicant with 
any shade upon his social or financial reputation. 

Now Americans are better received in London than 



156 EXGLISU LIFE. 

they have been for many years. It has been discovered 
by the practical business men of London that there are a 
great many very rich people in America, and that they 
spend their money freely. The English encouragement 
to Americans dates largely from the desire of the mercan- 
tile class to have American visitors come to London. 
One of the prominent editors of London said in conversa- 
tion yesterday, "We are very glad to see Americans here. 
They go about and visit otft :r countries much more than 
our people. I am glad to see that Englishmen are begin- 
ning to visit America more than they have. In the old days 
the education of a young Englishman was not considered 
finished until he had made a trip to the Continent. Now 
his education is considered very imperfect if he has not 
made a tour of the States. The number of Englishmen 
who visit America is not yet as great as it should be. 
Americans who come here with any kind of letters of in- 
troduction are sure to be made most welcome. The 
climate here is at first depressing, but it is soon found to 
be an excellent working climate and an extremely health- 
ful one." 

Some of the society papers make a great feature of at- 
tacks on the American element in London society. There 
are two or three of the society papers which never miss 
an opportunity of saying unkind and severe things about 
American ladies in London. They are never weary of 
representing them as crazy after royalty, Court favor, and 
eager in striving to make acquaintance with titled people. 
One of the oftenest repeated stories is that American wo- 
men come in great crowds to be presented at Court, and 
that it requires the united efforts of the Lord Chamberlain 
and the United States Minister to restrain this mob. 

I met the editor of one of the society papers the other 
day, and I asked him where he got all of his wonderful facts 
about American women. His reply was a strange con- 
fession. "You would not suppose," said he, " that I am 
a great admirer of American women. I think they are the 
most agreeable and attractive class of ladies in the world. 
I go almost entirely with Americans in London. I would 
not sit down and talk with an Englishwoman of any type 
except under compulsion. Englishwomen are too dull 
and commonplace. I prefer the society of American wo- 
men Next to them in vivacity and agreeableness I rank 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



157 



the French and the Irish ladies." "But why are you 
always criticising them so severely in your paper ? " " Oh, " 
was his reply, "the American women do not read my 
paper. It is a paper gotten up for Englishwomen. I dis- 
covered some time ago that Englishwomen are very jealous 
of the prominence given to American ladies in London 
society, so I began this kind of running fire upon the fair 
invaders of the most sacred precincts of London society, 
and the result is an enormous increase in my circulation. 
Every dull, heavy minded Englishwoman believes that it 
is the presence of these American women in society which 
prevents her from receiving her due share of attention, 
and consequently she reads with great pleasure all of these 
attacks upon her successful rivals. The circulation of my 
paper has nearly doubled since I have adopted this inno- 
cent ' fad ' of poking fun at and criticising the American wo- 
men in London." 

I have met during the last month a great many Ameri- 
cans on their return home. Nearly all are jaded and worn. 
Europe, instead of resting them, appears to have tired 
them out physically and mentally. The majority of tour- 
ists from America come over to Europe as a matter of 
education. Many cannot afford to come twice, and when 
once here they feel in duty bound to work almost day and 
night at that hardest of all kinds of hard work, sight-seeing. 
I met the other day a conscientious, energetic, clear- 
headed New England judge. He was accompanied by a 
very intelligent, highly educated and enormously ener- 
getic daughter. She had been in Europe studying for some 
time, and was able to act as courier and interpreter for 
her father. He came over to take her home. His time 
was limited, as business required his return before the 1st 
of September. She succeeded, however, in getting 
him to give up three or four weeks for sight-seeing, and 
then started him out on a career of lightning-like inspection 
of Europe which nothing but New England endurance 
could have followed through. The judge was presented 
by his quick-witted and dashing daughter with a series of 
dissolving views of European life which, while they 
interested him hugely at first, in the end became very 
confusing and fatiguing. 1 saw him in London a few 
days before his ship was to sail. He was anticipating a 
few days' rest in London, but soon found that that was 



158 ENGLISH LIFE. 

hopeless, as his daughter desired to take in rural Eng- 
land and the best scenery of Ireland within the four days 
left for them before the ship sailed. It was amusing to 
hear the judge talk of his European experience. He had 
been to see so many places that he had lost track of, and 
had forgotten a great many of the names, and he had 
contantly to consult Ids daughter as to where he saw this 
or that wonder which had left an impression upon his 
mind. 1 have no doubt when he gets back to his peace- 
ful library, with his books about him, that he will be able 
to straighten out and classify these dissolving views of 
European life, and if he ever comes to Europe again will 
be able to make a selection of places to visit for more 
leisurely enjoyments. His experience is only one of many. 
The doing of Europe by visiting Americans who come 
over for the first time is a most serious and fatiguing busi- 
ness. The enjoyment, I suppose, will come afterwards 
through memory. A most philosophical American I met 
the other day, who had been in London two weeks, and 
had not been to a single place of public interest and 
had no intention of so doing. He said he came over here 
for a good rest and a good time. Public buildings and 
picture galleries he hated. A friend of his said to him : 
"But if people ask you when you get back, have you 
been to such and such a place, what will you say?" 
"why," said he, "I shall say I have been there." 

There is a large number of foolish Americans who are 
continually coming to Europe to seek work. I hear of 
most touching stories of want and suffering among people 
of this class. Consul-General Waller said the other day 
that he had heard of more pitiable cases of suffering since 
his occupancy of office than he had ever heard of before 
in his life. The fact cannot be too widely published that 
Europe is no place for American workingmen of any class. 
If they come over here with positions secured in advance 
they still run the risk of being exposed in the end to 
poverty and distress. Once their places are lost it seems 
almost impossible for them to get a foothold again. I had 
yesterday given me one of the worst cases I have known 
for some time. It was the story of an American electri- 
cian who came over upon a contract to engage in the 
service of the Edison Electric Company in Paris. He had 
been in the service of the Edison Company in New York 



ENGLISH LIFE. 159 

and his papers show a good record. He brought with 
him his wife and two children. For a time they fared 
very well at Paris, but then the French employees of the 
company set up a protest against the employment of 
foreigners and the rebellion was so great that he was dis- 
missed. This electrician had at that time some money 
ahead, and instead of coming home with it he came over to 
England and went to the little village of Deal, where he set 
up a cigar and tobacco shop in a small way. He was 
wholly unprepared for the close competition and the narrow 
margin of English trading, and so he soon lost his money. 
Two weeks ago a third child was born. The wife and 
the children are managing to maintain existence in this 
little English village through the kindness of their neighbors, 
while her husband is walking the streets of London living 
upon chance charity. He has been in the streets since the 
1st of June and has not money enough to get back to his 
wife and children. He has been making a despairing 
effort to get work in London so as to get back to his peo- 
ple in the United States. He recognized now the suicidal 
folly of workmen trying to compete here, where thousands 
are out of employment and where thousands more are 
suffering the extreme degradation of absolute want. This 
electrician told me last night that he had spent the last 
month out of doors. He had slept when he could in 
Trafalgar Square. He had not known what it was to sleep 
under a roof and good shelter for six weeks. He is not 
a drinking man. He told his story in a quiet and dignified 
way and in a tone of defiant courage, showing that his 
spirit was not yet broken by his tremendous suffering and 
exposure. His case has been called to the attention of 
people who are willing to come to the rescue of deserving 
Americans and he will doubtless be sent home. But he 
is only one of thousands who come over here with bright 
ambition, hoping to gain new ideas in the way of study, 
while at the same time maintaining themselves through 
their work. People who have not enough capital to take 
themselves home after trying the experiment of seeking 
work here are courting the worst possible of fates. Two 
or three days ago a hollow-checked, dark-eyed young 
man, not over twenty-two, came into The World office 
and told me his experiences. He was a designer in Brook- 
lyn and received fairly good pay in the line of industrial 



160 ENGLISH LIFE. 

and decorative art work. He came to London to better 
his fortunes, and was soon walking- the streets, sleeping in 
Trafalgar Square, hoping against hope to be able to get a 
place where he can make enough money to pay a steerage 
passage back to the United States. 

The competition in Europe among the working men is 
so fierce, and the wages are so low in comparison with 
those in our country, that it is hard to understand how 
any intelligent workingman would venture to come here 
without careful investigation. There are thousands of 
men in London out of work. For every vacancy there 
are hundreds and hundreds of applications. For three or 
four dollars a week you can command the services of a 
university undergraduate. Trafalgar Square every night 
is filled with poor men and women who have no homes. 
They fill the benches, and in one of the lower corners, 
sheltered from the wind, they lie upon the hard pavement 
stretched out in long lines, two or three hundred in num- 
ber. The majority of these people are tramps and vag- 
rants, but there is a large percentage of well-educated and 
skilful workmen among this army of outcasts. This 
electrician, whom I mentioned in the outset of my letter, 
said that a great difficulty in his way was, that he never 
could get to see any one. He was ready to do any kind 
of work, but the heads of all the establishments visited by 
him are absolutely inaccessible to the applicant for work. 



PART V. 



CHAPTER I. 

ENGLISH COUNTRY. 

THE FOUR GREAT HOLIDAYS THE FREE, PICTURESQUE, OPEN AIR 

LIFE ON THE THAMES DURING THE SUMMER. 

Upon four days in the year the banks are closed in Great 
Britain, and business generally is suspended. These 
days are called bank holidays. The people generally de- 
vote these days to pleasure. The dropping of business is 
much more general than upon any holiday occasion with 
us. It is almost impossible to get any workingman to do 
any work within the few days preceding the holiday or 
directly after it. This last bank holiday, which occurred 
on Monday, Aug. i, was the occasion of at least four 
days holiday for the general run of working people. 
Every Saturday afternoon the majority of the shops in 
London are closed, so the great crowd was set free early 
on last Saturday. They took advantage of the conjunc- 
tion of Sunday and the bank holiday to go into the coun- 
try in great crowds. So universal was the departure that 
the streets of London late Saturday had very much the ap- 
pearance of Sunday. 

These excursion crowds are very interesting to study. 
The trains offer very low third-class rates for short trips 
into the country, so that there is hardly any one so poor 
that he cannot get out of London. These crowds swarm 
to the watering-places where their means will permit, and 
where it does not they go to some of the woodland sub- 
urbs of London or pour into the great Hyde Park, which 
1 1 



1 62 ENGLISH LIFE. 

is large enough to be free from the contaminating atmos- 
phere of the city. These crowds are in the main very- 
good-natured and orderly. You see very little fighting, 
quarrelling or excessive drinking. The people are pleased 
with very simple amusements, and so long as they are in 
a stretch of woodland or open country they are contented 
with very little beyond that. I have seen these holiday 
crowds in various haunts, and have wondered that the 
English artists have not made more use of them in their 
pictures. Upon the last bank holiday I walked over 
Hampstead Heath, which is one of the most popular of 
the open commons near London. This is within reach 
of the poorest. Those who cannot pay the three or four- 
pence required to reach it can easily walk there, as it is 
not over five miles from the centre of London, Charing 
Cross. Hampstead Heath is a section of rolling hills 
running over a great barren stretch, which overlook the 
meadows of Middlesex. Harrov-on-the-Hill, the location 
of the famous school, is also in sight. These commons, 
where the freebooters used to harass weary travellers, are 
still as desolate and unoccupied as when given up to 
outlaws. Gorse bushes grow in wild profusion over the 
heath and afford snug bits of shade for the heavy, dull, 
sleepy holiday-maker, who often spends such a day in 
peaceful sleep flat upon his face in the coolest and most 
comfortable place he can find. It is a Wonderful peculi- 
arity of a certain class of English workingmen to regard 
sleeping on the ground out of doors as the highest con- 
dition of human enjoyment. I go in the country nearly 
every Sunday, and I always find on a pleasant day men 
sleeping hour after hour in the same position, with their 
faces flat on the grass. You see men sleeping in this 
way in their own door-yards if the weather is at all fine. 
Upon Hampstead Heath on the day I have mentioned 
there were at least fifty thousand people, nearly all of the 
class who earn their living with the labor of their hands. 
The day was sunny, clear, and bright. There was every 
form of outdoor amusement to attract and interest this 
crowd. At every turn you would hear the sound of a 
concertina, shouts of laughter and the roar of jolly songs. 
There would be a group of tumblers in tights performing 
wonderful feats of agility, while during their rest a clown 
would make the simple-minded audiences roar with his 



ENGLISH LIFE. T 6 3 

time-worn jokes. Shooting galleries, picture galleries, 
fruit stands, perambulating venders of lollypops and 
drinks jostled against each other, while gypsies were 
wendng their way in and out telling fortunes. The 
crowd would gather in little bits of open round some 
wandering fakir and then would suddenly rush off in 
search of some other novelty. Under nearly every gorse 
bush there was a pair of frank, unembarrassed lovers, 
who made protestations to each other of their undying 
regard in the face and eyes of the wondering people. 
No one paid any attention to them. The English lover 
evidently is a privilege personaged for, whatever form 
of demonstration his affection may seek to display 
towards the object of his passion, the public pass him 
by and affect not to notice. It was a great sight to 
see this moving, chattering, singing, shouting crowd, and 
above all, to witness the spirit of good-nature and fun that 
ran through the roughest of their sports. 

If there were fifty thousand on Hampstead Heath there 
must have been as many more on the river Thames and 
in its neighborhood. Here was a picture of a different 
character. The holiday-makers here were of a better 
class. The scenes presented were brighter, cleaner and 
even more picturesque. The young Englishmen of the 
present day of the well-to-do class are in the main fine 
physical specimens. They are passionately fond of out- 
door sports. Thousands of them swarm down upon the 
river upon the occasion of any holiday, where they find an 
opportunity of rowing their dainty shells up and down the 
cool shades of the overhanging trees. But they are not 
always in the shells. You will often see them in heavy 
barges working their way at the oars, with gayly-dressed 
ladies reclining on the cushions in the stern, shaded under 
luxurious, soft, brilliant-hued parasols as they lazily 
watch the movements of the picturesquely dressed 
oarsmen. All of the men on the river wore flannels. 
Sometimes these flannels are white, but oftener they are 
striped in fanciful colors. The hats are white flannel or 
straw. Their dress is very picturesque and generally in 
the best of taste, but occasionally some young fellow 
seizes upon this opportunity given him to devise some- 
thing original in the way of dress. Such a costume I 
saw yesterday. This dress, which was such a glaring 



1 64 ENGLISH LIFE. 

one in point of taste, in contrast with the simplicity of 
the average athlete of the river, was a combination of 
red, blue and yellow. His shirt was a pale blue, over 
which he wore a pink cravat against a high, white collar. 
His coat was a dull garnet in color, with a coat-of-arms 
and a monogram worked in gold upon the outside pocket. 
The trousers were pale yellow, falling over white canvas 
shoes. His hat a straw, adorned with sky-blue ribbon. 
In the rim of the hat, at the back, was a green cord run- 
ning to the front of his coat. But it is not often that you 
find such a combination as this. 

It is one of the sights of England to see this merry, 
free, picturesque life on the river. These bright, whole- 
some-looking young fellows and these gayly-dressed 
young ladies are not the same people you would meet in 
a conventional way. It is only out of doors that the 
English people appear easy, or where they appear to take 
any pleasure in life. Indoors they are solemn, reserved, 
stiff, and awkward. The house-boats on the river are in- 
teresting features. These are great, broad barges with 
real houses built upon them. These houses will have 
promenade decks, protected by red, blue, or white awn- 
ings, according to the fancy of the owner. People who 
engage these-boats, which are comfortably fitted up, 
often live upon the river for days and weeks at a time. 
Sometimes they will be freed from their moorings and put 
in the tow of some of the steam launches that run up and 
down the river. I saw one house-boat which is worth a 
description. It was long, broad, and roomy. The house 
built upon it was of unusual height. Over the back was 
stretched a snowy white awning. The boat and house 
were painted snowy white, picked out in gold. Along 
the line of the upper deck were great masses of flowers. 
In front there were great pots of crimson and purple 
flowers. Under the awning were rugs and easy-chairs. 
In the fiont of the boat, on the lower deck, was a square, 
covered entrance to the house. In this space were seated 
four or five handsome young women, dressed in white, 
light-pink and heliotrope dresses, making a delicate com- 
bination against the light background of the house. Sit- 
ting in front of them at their feet, upon a soft pile of rugs, 
was a young, athletic, brown, regular-featured, clean-look- 
ing young Englishman, playing with great spirit and 



ENGLISH LIFE. 1 65 

brilliancy upon a banjo, On the upper deck there were 
other picturesque groups. From the windows streamed 
upon the breeze pink silken curtains. This resplendent 
house-boat, loaded with youth and beauty, was in the tow 
of a fanciful, sharp-lined steam launch, which, protected 
by the red awning-, carried also its gay party. From 
behind the house-boat there were numerous shells and 
small barges, also in tow, for it is an unwritten law of 
the river that whenever an oarsman asks for a tow from the 
happy possessors of steam power that favor is never to 
be refused. 

But to describe all of the pictures of English holiday 
time would require a special volume. Epping Forest, 
several miles beyond Hampstead Heath, where the oaks 
still stand under which Robin Hood's merry men used to 
meet, was densely thronged with picnic parties. Thou- 
sands of people pierced the gloom and shade of this wood 
on this day. Along the line of every country road were 
picnic parties. Groups were gathered in upon every 
corner where shade and green grass were to be found. 
There was also to be found upon every turn a British 
workman fast asleep upon his face. The trains that ran 
to the seashore were loaded to almost suffocation. At 
least half a million people were carried down to the sea- 
shore during this holiday time. At the Crystal Palace 
there were 30,000. At the Wild West show there were 
40,000 during the day, but it is useless to try and give 
with mere figures any idea of the outpouring of the public 
when one of these great davs has come. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE CHARM OF ENGLISH RURAL LIFE STOKE-POGIS THE GEM OF 

THE COUNTRY THE VILLAGE OF WARWICK. 

One of the principal charms of the year was the oppor- 
tunity afforded for visiting rural England. When once 
spring is fairly opened you cannot fail to find pleasant 
places to visit, take what direction you will from London. 



1 6 6 ENGLISH LIFE. 

Within a very short time you lose the dirt and smoke of 
the great city of the world for a quiet, peaceful spot, ut- 
terly outside of the rush of modern life. England is 
one garden. Everywhere you find such completeness, 
such a finish of roads, hedgerows, lawns, and green fields, 
that at times you long for wildness and absence of such 
perfect cultivation by way of contrast. The old con- 
stantly appeals to the American visitor. The ancient 
castles, the venerable cathedrals and the quaint, pictur- 
esque villages still unchanged from their appearance as 
built several hundred years ago, all deeply interest 
American visitors familiar with England's history. The 
ancient architecture is superior, and dominating in point 
of interest. Modern English architecture is ugly, material, 
and the very opposite of interesting. It would require 
many volumes to describe all of the beautiful places in Eng- 
land well worth seeing. In this book I shall only try to 
give a few pictures taken from English rural sight-seeing, 
but sufficiently typical of the rest to indicate their char- 
acter. 

One of the pleasantest places to visit in the vicinity of 
London, if one is looking for a strictly rural scene, is 
Stoke-Pogis, near Slough. A little over half an hour's 
ride on the Southwestern Railway brings one to Slough, 
and then there is a walk or drive, according to one's 
fancy, of about two and a half miles to the church of 
Stoke-Pogis, the scene of Gray's "Elegy Written in a 
Country Churchyard." When I visited the place the 
other day I took the more English way of walking, and a 
very pleasant walk I found it, too, through a pleasant 
country road. To reach the church one finds a short cut 
from the road across a large field. From this field one 
enters Stoke Park, as it is called, though in reality it is a 
large open common, shaded by handsome oaks and horse 
chestnuts. Near the centre of this is the manor of Stoke- 
Pogis, which was the property of William Penn. It was 
this beautiful place that he left when he went to America. 
In the centre of the common is a monument of granite 
which was erected to the memory of Gray by a member 
of the Penn family. The granite is crumbling under the 
effects of the English climate. It consists of a large sar- 
cophagus standing on a heavy granite base. Selections 
from the elegy and his ode to Eton are carved on the 



ENGLISH LIFE. 167 

base. Gray's body, however, is buried in the church- 
yard, close up to the church, in the grave with his mother. 

The little church, which is 700 years old, is in the main 
as it was built. Some of the window trimmings and 
stones have been replaced. The doors are so low that 
one has to stoop in order to enter, but the church is quite 
roomy when once inside. In one corner of the church is 
a marble tablet in memory of Penn's son and his children, 
who are all buried in the church. No member of the 
Penn family is left, and even the old manor house was 
burned long ago. 

The beauty of this place is in its absolute rural charac- 
ter and quietness ; yet it is within an hour of the greatest 
city of England. There is nothing here to even suggest 
the metropolis. Windsor Castle shows against the hori- 
zon, the only mark of prominence upon the irregular line 
of forest, hill and wood. The inn atPogis Green is a real 
country tavern, with only bed room for a chance traveller. 
Its sparkling ale, bread and cheese can be only appreci- 
ated by those who walk instead of ride over from Slough. 

In London one does not obtain any idea of the number 
of American visitors to England. It is only through visits to 
the interior places of England that you obtain some cor- 
rect knowledge of the perfect army of American travellers 
here. In London they are swallowed up and lost in the 
throngs of that great centre of the world ; but out in the 
interior you find that they are greatly in the majority 
among the visitors at the leading hotels. Chauncey De- 
pew in an after-dinner talk the other day said that nearly 
all the rich people in the United States who had any sur- 
plus money came to England every summer to spend it, 
and that afterwards the English actors and lecturers came 
over to the United States and took what was left. This 
exaggerated and satirical form of picturing how much of 
our money comes to England has underneath it a sub- 
stantial vein of truth. At Warwick, one of the few old- 
fashioned rural villages left in England, I was told that 
the principal hotel, the Warwick Arms, owes almost its 
entire support to American visitors. 

Warwick appears to have been untouched by the de- 
moralizing hand of modern progress. It has railroad con- 
nections, and the large stage coaches which used to run 
through the qlace are gone, leaving in their place drags 



168 ENGLISH LIFE. 

for the use of tourists or visitors. The place is one of 
the few in England which retains the early primitive 
character. It was formerly a walled town, and the two 
gates of this wall are still standing. I found, in making- 
some inquiries concerning these relics of early times, that 
some very interesting discoveries have recently been made 
in connection with them. Some subterranean passages 
leading from the entrances of these gates have been dis- 
covered, but their discovery has attracted no particular at- 
tention, because the knowledge thereof has been confined 
to the local dignitaries of the village. They sought to 
explore these passages, but have not been able to on ac- 
count of the accumulation of poisonous gases therein. 
As the passage is devious and winding the authorities do 
not know how to trace its direction upon the surface, so 
as to ventilate this underground way for the purpose of 
exploration. There is no knowing what a wealth of an- 
tiquarian discovery there may be along the line of this 
secret passage, which has remained closed and practically 
unknown for at least five hundred years. 

The Warwick Arms is the only hotel that I have yet 
seen in England where the landlord meets the arriving 
visitor at the door. The landlord of this village inn is a 
very dignified, pleasant-looking man in the neighborhood 
of sixty years of age. He was as dignified as a member 
of Parliament. He came out bareheaded and personally 
showed me into a bedroom. The landlord is rapidly dis- 
appearing from the village inns and hotels of England ; 
in their place are housekeepers. This inn is conducted 
in the old way. Their ales are of their own bottling. 
The hams are of their own curing, and nearly all of the 
special features of the table are products of the interior 
management of the hotel. It is a pleasant place to visit. 
Its charges are very reasonable, and the personal atten- 
tion of the friendly and attentive landlord very grateful 
and very pleasant. On account of his thankful regard 
for the comfort of his guests Warwick is a favorite resort 
of many Americans, who make it a head-quarters from 
which visits can be made to Kenil worth, Stratford-on-Avon, 
Leamington, Birmingham, and many other interesting 
places. The drives about here are beautiful. It is the 
centre of rural England. 

The great feature of the place is Warwick Castle, which 



ENGLISH LIFE. 169 

is almost the only castle of feudal times which is still pre- 
served in nearly every feature as it was in the twelfth 
century. This is the one castle which has been kept up 
in perfect order, and which is to-day occupied by the 
family to which it has descended as an heritage. With 
this great feudal castle dominating and overshadowing the 
town, with its thousand acres of park land, with the great 
prestige of the name of its occupant, the little town, which 
is built under its walls, satisfies the American visitor more 
than almost any other place in England, for I have found 
that the American visitor to England is interested more in 
what is old and what relates to its past history than in 
the modern and in its present life. Ancient England is 
picturesque and interesting, modern England is the very 
reverse of picturesque. The ancient architecture was 
beautiful, and surpasses in every way in point of interest 
anything architectural in the United States, but when it 
comes to modern building we are so infinitely superior to 
the average English work that it is not to be expected that 
the American visitor will find in this line of study any- 
thing to attract his attention. 

The lasting name that one can leave for himself in 
some monuments of thoughtfulness for the helpless and 
those who deserve support is well shown in the hospital 
founded by the Earl of Leicester, Queen Elizabeth's favor- 
ite. It stands upon a slight rise along High-Street Road, 
inside of the west gate of the old wall of the town. This 
home, or college as it is called, is one of the most pic- 
turesque of buildings. It is of the old-fashioned oaken 
frame-work, with oak timbers showing in the wall in the 
form of squares or triangles, while the inner spaces are 
filled with stucco. The front part of this college building 
is the original structure, about five hundred years old. 
The institution was founded by Leicester about three 
hundred years ago. The building was bought by him 
when it was about two hundred years old. It is a beau- 
tiful, quaint, home-like place. It has large gates attached 
to it. The walk in front reaches up to the battlement of 
the gateway, from which you have a most exquisite 
country stretched out beneath your gaze. This home is 
for twelve men who have served in the army and who 
have earned the right to be here through gallant and mer- 
itorious services. They wear no uniform, no badge of 



170 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



charity. The men are all proud of being there. They 
have a different feeling- than that of inmates of any other 
home that I have seen. They have absolutely nothing 
to do. They have servants for every want. They are 
fine, splendid looking, manly old men. I asked one of 
them, who showed me about through this quaint place, if 
he thought he would be any more comfortable when he 
got to heaven. He replied very promptly, " No sir, I do 
not." Each man has a sitting-room and a bedroom to 
himself. When a vacancy occurs a successor is selected 
by Lord Dudley, one of the collateral descendants of the 
original founders of the institution. In the museum of 
beautiful weapons and historical pieces of work I noticed 
one thing which I am sure will interest New York people 
particularly. This is a handsomely carved oaken frame 
taken from the wood of the old Kenilworth ruins, enclos- 
ing a piece of embroidery supposed to be the work of 
Amy Robsart. This frame was the gift of Charles O'Conor, 
who in a visit to this place found that it was unprotected 
and was lying about carelessly, and so made this present 
to this institution. 

But the great sight of ancient Warwick I saw just as I 
was leaving the town. It could not have been better ar- 
ranged. The morning of my departure from Warwick 
sundry bold and adventurous Warwickians had gone on a 
railroad excursion to the unknown and distant Portsmouth, 
some one hundred long and weary miles away. Just as 
I was going away the town crier came on the streets car- 
rying in his hand a message announcing the safe arrival 
at the distant port of Portsmouth of the band of adven- 
turers. He wore the exact costume of the town crier of . 
the time of Plenry VIII. He wore a black cocked hat 
a la Napoleon I. His coat was a single-buttoned red 
frock, with long skirts descending nearly to his feet. He 
was a solemn-looking man, with a long red nose, a sharp- 
featured face and a straggling yellow mustache shading 
his yawning mouth. He carried a brass bell in his right 
hand. He would ring this bell with a sharp jerk and then 
howl the contents of the despatch something like the fol- 
lowing : 

" Kerching ! The Warwick party, numbering forty 
souls, arrived this morning at Portsmouth at 9.30. All 
safe and well I Kerching ! " 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



171 



The way windows and doors flew open at the " Kerch- 
ing ! " of the crier's bells showed how popular was this 
means of circulating news in Warwick. The solemnity 
and curiosity expressed upon the wrinkled faces of the 
old women at some of the open doorways were most 
flattering tributes + o the majesty and importance of the 
town crier. Some of the advanced thinkers of the village 
— few in number — scoffed at him, but the majority re- 
garded him as a most important and useful functionary. 



CHAPTER III. 



TUNBRIDGE WELLS AND ITS DELIGHTS THE DISAPPOINTMENT 

OVER STRATFORD-ON-AVON. 

There are few places left m England retaining the 
characteristics of the coaching-day period. The railroads 
have changed all that. Cheap excursion rates take great 
swarms of people upon every possible occasion down 
from London to every place within two or three hours' 
ride of the capital. The English excursion crowd is a 
very disagreeable one. It is very noisy and rough. Its 
members go into the country to seek freedom from re- 
straint. During their absence they are particularly law- 
less and careless concerning the rights of others. The 
wealthy people of England are not fond of their own 
watering-places. They are fond of country life, and 
spend much time in visiting each other at private places, 
but the patronage of the interior villages of England or 
summer resorts is largely confined to foreigners. The 
English preferthe more cheerful surroundings of the Con- 
tinental watering-places. The charges on the Continent 
are much less than their own and the spirit of pleasure 
running through the watering-place life there is wholly 
different from that of England 

Yesterday I visited what is considered one of the most 
fashionable of the interior watering-places of England. 
This is Tunbridge Wells. It is within an hour and ten 
minutes' ride by the express from London. It is in the 



172 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



County of Kent, and is the centre of as beautiful a coun- 
try as is to be found in England, not even excepting the 
neighborhood of Windsor Castle. The most noticeable 
feature of this place is its absolute quiet and repose. It 
is the place of all others tor a tired or nervous person to 
find rest, but the very last place of all others for one fond 
of gayety and amusement to go. The entire valley 
where the village lies was steeped in a hazy mist of 
sleepy rest. There is hardly a sound to be heard from 
morning to night. Even the birds are subdued by the 
unusual heat of the English summer. The people at the 
various hotels rarely speak to one another, and observe 
that solemnity and reserve of manner which are common 
to people who are not exactly certain concerning their 
surroundings. The village was filled from one end to 
the other with visitors. There has never been a time in 
the history of Tunbridge Wells when they have had such 
a season as the one they were then enjoying, but 
you would not suspect, except upon careful examination 
of their hotels, that there was a stranger in town. During 
my twenty-four hours' stay in this beautiful place I did 
not even hear the distressing notes of the watering-place 
band. There was no frantic attempt at display of toilets 
or dazzling dressing even at late dinners. The few 
young women about looked languidly at the few languid 
young men. There was not even a semblance of flirting 
or ordinary rudimentary watering-place amusement. 

The hotel where I was staying was so different from 
anything known in the United States, and so different 
even from the general character of the hotels in England, 
that I shall try and give some idea of its principal features. 
I have seen only one hotel resembling it in England, and 
this was on the cliffs of Bournemouth. The Calverly 
House, at Tunbridge Wells, was formerly the private resi- 
dence of the Duchess of Kent, the mother of Queen 
Victoria. The Queen lived there several years before she 
succeeded to the throne. The house does not have the 
slightest appearance of being a hotel. It is large, square 
and of gray stone, with a massive portico supported by 
great pillars. The name of the hotel is upon the front, 
but in such a way that it might be the name of a private 
house, as all of the houses in England are named. The 
entrance is exactly like the entrance of a great country 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



173 



house. It has a great, broad hallway, which runs clear 
through the house. The floor is polished, with numerous 
bright rugs on its dark surface. Against the walls were 
handsome old-fashioned chairs, above them pictures, old 
engravings, and articles of bric-a-brac, arranged with a 
taste and judgment rarely seen except in private collec- 
tions. An excellent mask of Shakespeare was one of the 
most noticeable features of the hall. Black oak cabinets 
and old-fashioned clocks added to the art look of this 
great entrance. If I had not received the precise direction 
I certainly should have thought that I had strayed into a 
private house. A pleasant-faced housekeeper met me 
•after my entrance and asked me what I wanted and how 
long I was going to stay, and placed me in my quarters 
with the dignified ease of a hostess receiving an invited 
guest. There was not a man to be seen about the place. 
The little office at the left had the look of a private wait- 
room. The cosy sitting-room opening into it was where 
the lady manageress spent her time. A fresh-faced, slight- 
figured, regular-featured brunette had charge of the office. 
She was a great improvement in manners over any hotel 
clerk I have ever seen in the United States. She was 
pleasant and matter-of-fact, without the slightest sugges- 
tion of carelessness or impudence. 

The entire house was filled with pictures. The walls 
of every hall were covered. In every room there were 
examples of the best engravers of the schools of twenty- 
five or thirty years ago. Just back of the house was a 
beautiful terrace three or four times the length of the hotel. 
The flowers and walks along the terrace were arranged 
with the same taste as a private ground. From the rear 
of this house there was a great stretch of rolling hill and 
sloping dale. The yellow patches of ripe harvest, the 
soft green of the second crops of grass, the dark masses 
of woodland, with innumerable groups of sheep grazing 
here and there, made up a series of rural pictures not to 
be surpassed anywhere in point of quiet beauty. 

The life led by the guests of this hotel was nearly the 
same as if they had been guests of a great country house. 
The servants were visible only when needed. If you 
wanted anything the lady manageress or some one of her 
assistants was always ready with suggestions. The cool, 
bracing air which came down from the hills gave one the 



1 74 ENGLISH LIFE. 

sharpest of appetites. In the morning- a private consulta- 
tion with the head waiter was necessary to order your 
breakfast. Then, while it was being prepared, a walk on 
the terrace made the waiting period seem very short. All 
of the guests at the hotel took luncheon together. The 
breakfast was a moving feast from 7 to 12. Luncheon 
was from 1 till 2. At 4 those who wished it had black 
tea and bread and butter. Then came the table d'hote 
at 7. A portion of the guests dined in their private rooms. 
There was no extra charge for meals served in private 
rooms. At English hotels those who take the sitting- 
room with the bedroom commonly have the privilege of 
having their meals served in the sitting-room if they so 
desire. In this hotel, where there were perhaps fifty 
people (it would hardly accommodate any more than 
seventy-five), there was the utmost reserve and exclu- 
siveness shown. None of the guests seemed to have any 
acquaintance with the others. During the time I was 
there I never saw any attempt at conversation between 
any of the guests. They would go out and walk or ride, 
and when inside stand about gazing vacantly into space 
or go through the form of reading a book. Coming up 
from the terrace at night I was very much impressed with 
the striking picture of an old gentleman whom I saw from 
the window of the ground floor dining alone in solemn 
state in the dining-room large enough to feed fifteen or 
twenty people. He appeared perfectly contented and 
happy, though I could not imagine anything duller than 
dining alone. 

There was no attempt at any time to do anything so 
ridiculous as to seek to provide amusement for the visitors. 
The quiet country was there. You could look at that. 
Then you could ride. If you wanted sociability and gay- 
ety you would have to move on. Yet the very quietness 
and repose of the place made it much more attractive than 
many more pretentious places given up to noise and gar- 
ish display. 

Stratford-on-Avon is the Mecca for American pilgrims. 
There are many more American visitors who come here 
during the year than English. There is scarcely an Ameri- 
can who comes to England on business or pleasure who 
does not find time to go to Shakespeare's birthplace. I 
do not believe that there is any more disappointing place 



ENGLISH LIFE. I75 

to visit in all England. It is one of the few places that 
does not correspond in any degree to one's anticipa- 
tions. The town is uninteresting. It has no picturesque 
features. It has a very modern look, and the majority 
of the houses are ugly, unornamented brick. The greater 
number of the streets present the hard, glaring appear- 
ance of hurriedly finished villages of the far West. The 
town is permeated with Shakespeare's history and name. 
His fame apparently affords the principal means of liveli- 
hood for the inhabitants. The house where Shakespeare 
was born is interesting, but in my opinion it would be 
much more interesting if it were kept empty instead of 
being made a museum for all the junk which has been 
packed up in Shakespeare's name during the last two or 
three hundred years. There are people who are interested 
in viewing the boots and old clothes of great men, but 
this number cannot be very large among the class of peo- 
ple who have money enough to cross the water upon a 
pilgrimage to Shakespeare's home. I asked a local digni- 
tary who was in charge of the house to whom the place 
belonged. He said: "To the people of England." I 
asked him to be more specific. In whom was the title ? 
Again he replied: "The people of England." Then I 
asked who had control of the property. He then said 
that the house was purchased from the heirs of the Shake- 
speare family through subscriptions made throughout 
all England, and that when it was purchased by the com- 
mittee who collected the subscriptions it was turned over 
as a trust to the corporation officials of Stratford, and that 
they controlled it to-day. That this house is controlled 
by the great men of this corporation is shown by the pic- 
tures of the prominent men of Stratford appearing on the 
walls. I noticed one particularly ugly looking old 
woman on the wall in the museum, and upon inquiry was 
told that she was Miss Wheeler, the sister of a former his- 
torian of Stratford. The historian of Stratford may be a 
very great man, but his fame has thus far not extended 
outside of the city whose history he has written, yet the 
portraits of himself and his sister are as conspicuous in 
the Shakespeare house as those of the original occupant. 

The Shakespeare house was purchased in the same 
way as was Mount Vernon, the home of Washington. It 
is nominally the property of the people. The public can- 



I7 6 ENGLISH LIFE. 

not view the Shakespeare house without paying sixpence 
to see the living rooms and sixpence more to view the 
second part of the house, which is filled up with a lot of 
rubbish, supposed to have some relation to the Shake- 
spearian period. This represents about 25 cents of our 
money, and as there is an average of 250 visitors a day to 
the Shakespeare house this would foot up an income of 
$60 per day. Certainly this great amount of money is not 
all required for keeping up a very plain house. Two or 
three hundred dollars a year would surely cover that ex- 
penditure. What becomes of this large fund would afford 
an interesting subject of inquiry, I should say, with the 
people of England, who are supposed to own this place. 

Nearly all of the show places of England have en- 
trance fees charged for admission. The ruins of Kenil- 
worth Castle, near Stratford, are supposed to be the most 
interesting ruins in England. A visitor to them brings 
away a few distinct impressions. First, a quickening 
sense and appreciation of the magnificent story of Scott 
written in the neighborhood of this once great castle. 
Second, the realization of the fitness, beauty and gran- 
deur of the theatre upon which so many historical page- 
ants during Elizabeth's time were displayed. Third, a 
feel of pity and indignation for the ruthless destruction 
perpetrated by Cromwell, who dismantled this noble 
fortress, creating a ruin which no one has since attempted 
to restore. Fourth, intense admiration for the thrifty 
spirit of the Earl of Clarendon, who in acquiring this 
property hedged it carefully in and permitted visitors to 
see it upon a payment of threepence each, or six cents 
our money. In this way he derives from this property a 
handsome income. The Sabbath is observed at this in- 
stitution by refusing to admit the public for the sacrile- 
gious price of threepence. Those who are willing to pay 
eighteen pence on the holy Sabbath day can have the 
privilege of inspecting this most profitable property of 
the most noble Earl of Clarendon. 

Warwick Castle, which is one of the great feudal cas- 
tles of England, affords a very handsome revenue to its 
present occupant, the Earl of Warwick, through shilling 
admissions being charged to view all except the private 
living apartments. The present Earl is a poor man for 
one in his position. He has been obliged to live quietly 



ENGLISH LIFE. 



177 



md husband his resources to do his best to free this prop- 
erty" from the debts upon it when it came to him. The 
;state was loaded with mortgages when he received it, 
His oldest son, Lord Brooke, married a few years ago 
Due of the great heiresses of England. Looking back 
Dver the history of this family I find that nearly all of its 
inancial successes have come through the marriage of a 
■ich young woman. This heiress who married Lord 
Brooke is a spirited young lady who refused the hand of 
Prince Leopold when it was tendered her a few years ago. 
Jp to within a few years ago there was no admission fee 
:harged at Warwick Castle. Then the butler and the 
housekeeper were permitted to show people through at 
:ertain hours of the day, and they were permitted to 
pocket the fees paid them. The result was that these 
:wo people accumulated a great fortune during their 
:wenty years' service, and have now set up as magnates 
Df county kitchen circles. To quote the language of one 
Df their rural admirers, they have ' ' an 'ouse of their h'own 
nearly as big as the cahrsle, and more 'orses and carriages 
az the h'Earl 'imself." The present Earl now takes this 
revenue to himself. One of the peculiarities of this busi- 
ness is that the tickets of admission are not sold on the 
castle grounds. There is a strange avoidance of any ap- 
parent connection upon the part of the castle with the 
financial features of this transaction. At the porter's lodge 
you are told that tickets can be bought at the little humble 
house in the feudal row, under the lofty battlements 
of this most aristocratic abode of one of the greatest 
peers of the realm. You visit this house and there your 
money is taken through a little wicket, and in exchange 
you are given a ticket which entitles you to be shown 
through the castle. Commissionaires are on duty there, 
and they display the treasures and the beauties of the 
place with the same business-like method and manner of 
people in charge of any of the show-places of London. 
The money deposited by the visitor finds its way to a 
bank to the Earl's credit, affording him at the present 
time a clear net income of fully $15,000 a year. 

12 



l 7 8 ENGLISH LIFE. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CHRISTMAS DAY IN THE COUNTRY ON THE SANDS AT BOURNE- 
MOUTH. 

I spent Christmas Day and the one succeeding- at a coun- 
try place in the neighborhood of Bristol, two hours and a 
half from London. I had an opportunity of seeing an 
old-fashioned English Christmas. I learned there the Eng- 
lish people at home are even more sociable and fond of fun 
than almost any civilized people. There is more genuine 
democracy in the country gatherings than one would ex- 
pect. I do not intend to give any description of this par- 
ticular Christmas beyond indicating in a general way 
some of the principal features of the country amusement 
at this time of the year. In the first place, the country is 
much more interesting than with us in the winter. It is 
rare for the mercury to go below 26 or 28 degrees Fah- 
renheit. The English people use the freezing point 32 
as the indicator. They speak of 3 or 4 or 6 degrees of 
frost meaning so many degrees below 32. They never 
have weather which approaches zero. The winters being 
comparatively mild, the grass remains green throughout 
the year, and but little snow falls. The morning after 
Christmas I went over with a party of friends to a meet 
of the hounds. Lord Fitzhardinge is the master of the 
hounds for that district. It was the first English meet I 
had ever seen, and as the day was absolutely perfect the 
picture was a most delightful one to my unsportsmanlike 
vision. 

The morning was crisp and clear. There was a light 
hoar frost on the ground which soon gave way, so that 
the ground became moderately soft under the rays of the 
sun. There was not a bit of wind. The course to be run 
was over a succession of green, grassy downs skirting 
hedgerows and thick clumps of woodland. These downs 
ran to a line of cliffs overlooking an arm of the sea, be- 
yond which was a long line of blue hills — the Welsh 
mountains. A meet in England is one of the most demo- 



ESGLTSH LIFE. 



179 



cratic of gatherings. It was a new thing for me to learn 
that anybody in the neighborhood can come to a meet 
and be received if he can find a quadruped to carry him. 
The butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker can come 
and ride alongside of the gentry and keep up with them if 
they have as good horses and are as skilful riders. The 
meet took place on the broad lawn of a handsome coun- 
try place of a private gentleman who has large coal inter- 
ests at the Cape Verde Islands. There were upward of a 
thousand people who came through his gates and up his 
walk without any invitation, driving in all sorts of car- 
riages and carts and upon all sorts of horses. Several 
hundred came on foot. Another strange feature of this 
promiscuous gathering was the fact that every one who 
came was made welcome to the private hospitality of the 
house. The son of the host actively assisted the servants 
in passing out sandwiches and mulled claret to whoever 
rode up to the door. There was a constant procession 
of lunching horsemen in front of the door for at least two 
hours before the hounds arrived with Lord Fitzhardinge 
and the whippers-in. I doubt very much whether the 
American riders to the hounds in the United States are as 
hospitable in their welcome of every one as are the Eng- 
lish fox-hunters. 

There were all sorts of riding costumes. The master of 
the hounds and the whippers-in wore the traditional pink 
coats, as did a few of the other riders. The majority of 
the riders, however, even among the regular members of the 
hunt, wore dark coats. Two army officers from the 
neighboring barracks came up on very smart horses, wear- 
ing hunting dresses which looked as neat as full-dress 
uniforms. They wore high silk hats with small steel 
chains attached to the brim in the rear and passing around 
their necks. Their coats were four-button cutaways with 
long skirts and broad flapped pockets. These coats were 
buttoned up tight to the throat, above which appeared a 
high white collar and a white cravat. Their knee-bree< hes 
were white corduroy. Their boots were high patent- 
leather, with steel spurs upon the lower part of the heel. 
They were handsome trim-looking men and sat their 
horses with perfect ease. One of the most striking of the 
lady riders was a relative of the master of the hounds. 
She was not over fourteen years of age. Her slim figure 



180 ENGLISH LIFE. 

was set off by a dark blue close-fitting riding suit. Her 
hair, a dazzling golden silver, floated in the wind uncon- 
fined from underneath a black derby hat. She was 
mounted on a thin-skinned, high-bred, iron-gray horse, 
which seemed to be under the perfect control of his beau- 
tiful young mistress. But the good riders and the correct 
hunting dresses were the exception. This was owing in 
part to the fact that it was a holiday, and upon such occa- 
sions the regular members of the hunt are inclined to stay 
away. The tradespeople of Bristol came out in great 
numbers. They were very enthusiastic sportsmen, but 
they made up a motley gathering, coming as they did 
upon all sorts of horses and in all sorts of riding-dresses. 

They have a peculiar way of clipping the hunting horses 
in this part of the country. They clip the horse's body 
only and leave the legs covered with hair. Gloucester- 
shire has a great deal of limestone, and it was found that 
where the legs of the horses were clipped that the gritty 
mud soon made their legs sore. This fashion gave the 
horses, however, a very peculiar appearance. The clip- 
ping of a bright bay gives him in the first place a mouse- 
color. The leaving of the hair upon the horses' legs gave 
them the appearance of having on high boots. To see 
a mouse-colored horse with high, reddish boots on, bear- 
ing on his back a vociferous rider, coming at a great 
stride across the green downs is certainly a novelty to a 
stranger. 

The main interest culminated when the hounds arrived. 
They were such a smart, intelligent looking lot of animals. 
They all carried their heads and tails straight up. They 
appeared to be eager and anxious to be away, but were 
easily restrained by the whips of the servants in charge. 
They were moved about with the precision and rapidity 
of well-drilled soldiers. When the hounds came into 
the inclosure about the house where the meet took place, 
they smelled the food of the morning lunch and were at 
once going to press to the front, but a wave of the whip- 
pers-in-stick sent them back in a compact mass to a corner 
of the inclosure, where they remained. The amount of 
lunching and drinking done by the people who arrived, 
and who must have just come from their breakfast, simply 
illustrated the ability of the English people to eat at any 
and all times as a preliminary to anything in the way of 



ENGLISH LIFE. 1S1 

work or fun. There was no great excitement about the 
start. The hunters went away at an easy pace and fol- 
lowed the road for several miles. Gates were opened for 
them all through the first part of the morning. It was 
only when a fox was started and the hounds were in full 
cry that anything like hard cross-country riding was at- 
tempted. Few of the Bristol people ventured on jumping 
any of the hedges, so within a very few moments after 
the start the good riders had everything to themselves. 
Pedestrians, horsemen, and people in wagons went about 
the country all the morning seeking to cross the trail of 
the hunters. There is one noted pedestrian in this neigh- 
borhood, the postman, who is so familiar with the country 
that he is always able by short cuts and hard running to 
be in at the death of every fox killed by the huntsmen of 
any meet where he attends. This is so well known that 
it is regarded as one of the features of the hunt of this part 
of the country. He is always made a small present for 
his skill in running. I was told that the cost of keeping 
up a pack of fox-hounds for ordinary hunting purposes is 
£6,000 a year. After once seeing an English meet it is 
easy to understand the interest in it. The fox is merely 
an excuse for sharp and brilliant riding across a lovely 
country in brilliant, sparkling weather. The meet 
is generally made up of congenial spirits, and, there- 
fore, has the additional element and zest of socia- 
bility. 

The most pleasant seashore resort is on the south 
coast of England. From its iron pier the yellow- 
white banks of the Isle of Wight are visible. Bourne- 
mouth is a little over three hours' ride from London 
by any of the fast express trains. It is one of 
the most beautiful and restful Dlaces to be found any- 
where. 

This resort has the gentlest and most " equable 
climate in England. Dense pine forests shelter the 
town from the back, while under the great sand cliffs 
which overhang the beach, it is warm and com- 
fortable on the coldest day inland. There are 
even more elegant places at Bournemouth than 
at Newport. I drove during my visit for two 
hours throughout a range of beautiful \ residences. 



1 82 ENGLISH LIFE. 

which were sometimes completely hidden in the forest and 
then appeared out in the open along the line of the cliffs. 
The vegetation is very rich and luxuriant, even up to the 
sands of the beach, taking away entirely the barren look 
of the average neighborhood of the sea. Flowers are 
grown and cultivated everywhere. For miles and miles 
there are endless gardens against the sombre background 
of the drowsy, nodding pines. The roads are perfect speci- 
mens of the best of English highways. They are broad, 
smooth as floors, and absolutely devoid of loose sticks or 
stones. 

This seashore place is famous for the lung-healing 
properties of its atmosphere. The air is laden with the 
balsam odor of the pines, the neighborhood of which has 
such a wholesome influence upon people affected with 
nervous or consumptive troubles. The population of this 
place is in the neighborhood of twenty thousand. In no 
place in the speculative West, not even in Kansas City, 
have there been more brilliant speculations in real estate 
and dizzier advances in real-estate values than at Bourne- 
mouth. Three thousand pounds for small cottage lots is 
a common price. The quiet house and surrounding land 
where Mr. Manning is staying is valued at £50,000, when 
only a few years ago it was not valued at one-tenth of 
that amount. Very little is said about this place or the 
rapid advances of its property values by the English news- 
papers. That might savor too nearly of news, and news 
is almost a contraband article in English newspaper 
offices. Wealthy people have been coming in quietly 
3'ear by year, purchasing or building great houses and mak- 
ing improvements, which have produced a seashore town 
equaling, if not surpassing, Newport in point of actual 
capital invested. 

Life here is so quiet. To an active man the sudden 
change from the whirl of London life might be tedious, 
but to the poetic or artistic mind, or to the one who is 
weary and sick, there is an irresistible attraction in this 
place. Its profound silence and quiet soothes without a 
suggestion of monotony. 

Those who would think a walk under the pines too 
quiet, will find along the beach the crowds and sights 
familiar to nearly every seashore place. But the cliffs 



ENGLISH LIFE. 183 

are so high and the roar of the sea so persistent that 
the human chatter on the beach is utterly lost. 

Along the line of the sands are to be found the most 
interesting character-studies. Boatmen in black jerseys, 
loose trousers, and black skull-caps with visors, are very 
numerous about the iron pier. They are a very jolly, pic- 
turesque lot, and anything but servile in their tenders of 
employment. They have a rakish, reckless air, and nearly 
always wear some enormous floral adornment. The 
morning I visited the beach, the salty tars about the pier 
had huge red camellias backed against two green leaves 
and pinned on the left sides of their caps. You can im- 
agine the effect of this hot-house plant associated in the 
mind with high society and its adornments, standing out 
as a brilliant and dainty patch of color upon the side of 
the face of a bronzed and sturdy son of the sea. 

The cliffs are of sand and chalk. They are covered 
in patches with dark-green grass and the savage spiked 
gorse bushes, now blazing as far as the eye can reach up 
and down the cliffs with their flaming yellow blossoms. 
The patches of dark green alternate with the yellows and 
grays of sand and shale. 

The cliffs are not abrupt except in occasional places. 
You can climb them nearly where you please up over 
sliding, shelving steps of sand. There is no rock any- 
where. If it were rocky, few would venture upon an 
ascent, but, as it is, a slip or a fall could not hurt if you 
should fall from the top, as you would merely tumble 
from one soft, sandy hummock to another. 

Along these warm, sandy cliffs, absolutely sheltered 
from any cold, under the influence of the sentimental sea, 
the thoughts of many of the English wanderers up and 
down the beach turn " lightly to love." 

There is something so frank about the English lover. 
If his fair one is within the reach of his sheltering arms, 
he shelters her then and there, regardless of the public. 
And the English people ignore most admirably the lovers 
who display their passion for each other in public. I have 
often seen men and women embrace under the flare of the 
gas lamps in the crowded streets of London, without any 
one paying the slightest attention, but I have never seen 
such prolonged public exhibitions of devotion as I have 
seen on the life-stimulating sands at Bournemouth, where 



1 84 ENGLISH LIFE. 

the crowds who walked up and down affected not to see 
the lovers who in mute ecstacy reclined in various postures 
of abandon along the glowing sands, studying, as'one 
cynical friend said, "the geography of each other's eye- 
balls," without a thought of the people who passed every 
moment within a few feet of them. 

One of the funny sights I saw along the line of the upper 
cliffs was the hunt of an aged British matron after a wil- 
ful English girl who had escaped from her guard. The 
matron was sharp-featured and very waspish in her 
temper. She was accompanied by a maid who was help- 
ing her to hunt after the lost young lady. Finally, from 
one of the extreme points of the upper cliff the vigilant 
matron discovered her lost charge about a quarter of the 
way down the cliff. This very proper young lady had 
slid down a nearly perpendicular path of about thirty feet, 
and then had crawled around a corner under a great clump 
of gorse, and there she had dug for herself a soft bed in 
the sand. Over this bed she had fastened a great black 
umbrella. With a fur-lined mantle to cover her and sev- 
eral novels, the young lady had made for herself a position 
of ideal comfort. She was about two hundred feet above 
the sea and seventy or eighty feet from the roadway over- 
hanging the cliff. She had escaped from every one, and 
was so securely hidden, that she was able to read and 
doze there for some hours before she was found. At the 
time the above sketch was taken the duenna had discovered 
her. She was perfectly horrified at the young lady's posi- 
tion. She did not dare to come down the path to shake 
her, and moral suasion at the distance of sixty or seventy 
feet is very ineffective. The discipline of English servants 
was shown at this particular juncture. The stern British 
matron took the shrinking maid by her shoulder and act- 
ually forced her to slide down the path, giving her a good 
push for a start. The maid arrived in a perfect cloud of 
sand on her hands and knees, and barely escaped tum- 
bling over a quarter of a mile stretch below. Through the 
combined efforts of the maid and the urgent commands of 
the matron above the young lady was with difficulty coaxed 
out of her sand pit and persuaded to climb reluctantly 
back to the more conventional life of the hotel grounds 
above. 

Up and down the sand children have great frolics. It 



ENGLISH LIFE. 1 85 

is one of the most secure of places for children. The sea 
is very shallow for a long- way out, and the surf is never 
very heavy. There are a great number of donkey boys 
around the iron pier. The little donkeys, it is said, can 
be bought for four shillings each. They are rented for a 
shilling an hour. This shilling includes, besides the don- 
key, a boy and a club. The club is worked by the 
boy, for without its constant application the little don- 
keys refuse to move. 



CHAPTER V. 



A GLANCE AT THE LIFE OF OXFORD EXPENSE OF LIVING AT THIS 

FAMOUS UNIVERSITY AMERICAN STUDENTS. 

Last Thanksgiving Day I had an opportunity of getting 
a hurried view of Oxford student life. The American stu- 
dents at Oxford gave a Thanksgiving dinner. It is the 
intention of the American students to keep up this custom 
if their numbers will permit. I found to my surprise that 
the number of American students at Oxford is only twelve, 
and that of this number the majority are taking special 
courses and have no fixed period for their stay there. It 
is not generally known that among the dons or fellows 
there are at present two Americans. It is only within 
late years that any foreigner could become a fellow of 
the Oxford University. These Americans are Walter Ash- 
burner, Fellow of Merton, and the Rev. W. A. B. Coolidgc, 
Fellow of Magdalen. These two men have won their 
positions at Oxford through their scholarship. Mr. Cool- 
idge is a noted Alpine explorer. He is the editor of a 
paper devoted to the pastime of scaling the peaks of the 
Alps. He has excelled even the most extreme English- 
men in his passion for this form of recreation and inves- 
tigation. He is a short, square-shouldered man, with a 
sturdy frame and a resolute, iron-featured face. 1 1 e wears 
steel-bowed glasses. The lower part of his face is covered 
by a dark mustache and beard. He is in the neighbor- 



Z S6 ENGLISH LIFE. 

hood of fifty years of age. Mr. Ashburner is tall, slim, 
with regular features, dark eyes and a slight mustache. 
He made one of the best speeches of the college men at 
the dinner. He does not look a day over twenty-five 
years of age. He has the stooping shoulders and the 
classical pallor of a student too fond of his books and too 
little of outdoor exercise. 

The small number of American students at Oxford is 
easily accounted for. Until a very recent time the regu- 
lations at Oxford were so strict that American students 
preferred the greater freedom of the German universities. 
The young men who come to Europe from America to 
study are nearly always graduates of good schools. They 
feel that they have been in leading strings long enough 
and so they have not taken kindly to the extraordinary 
discipline which was and is still enforced at Oxford. The 
relaxation of some of these regulations, however, has 
brought to Oxford a few American students, and they 
hope to have others come in time, so as to have as large 
a representation at Oxford as at any one of the German 
university places. It is only within a few years that any 
one not a believer in the tenets of the Church of England 
could obtain a degree. This has been changed, I be- 
lieve, only since 1870. 

Life at Oxford is no more expensive for a student than 
at any one of the great colleges of the United States. I 
asked Mr. Warburton about the cost of student life here, 
and he was able, reporter-like, to give me the exact fig- 
ures. He said that a student could live well and have 
everything that he should have with an income of $1,500 
a year. There are plenty of students who are getting 
along on half that. Two thousand dollars a year would 
be a most liberal estimate. The students that were 
classed as rich were the sons of wealthy families who 
allowed them £1,000 a year pocket money. Of course 
there was a fast set at Oxford, as there is in every univer- 
sity town. The members of this set spend money reck- 
lessly and often get into debt, but their expenses have 
nothing to do with any proper estimate of the cost of 
student life here. The standard of examination for ad- 
mission to Oxford is no higher than at our best colleges. 
The requirements after that are very much less. An under- 
graduate of ordinary abilities can finish the course in any 



ENGLISH LIFE. 187 

one of the colleges here within three years, and in the 
three years he will study six months only in each year. 
The scholastic year consists of three terms of only eight 
weeks each. They have six weeks' holiday at Christmas. 
It is easy to see from the short period of study and the 
predominance given to classical studies that not much of 
a general education can be obtained at Oxford. Strangers 
who come to Oxford often ask where the university is, 
not seeming to understand that there are thirty colleges 
comprised in the university system at Oxford. While 
they are generally classed together and pursue the same 
lines of study, yet they are separate and distinct organiza- 
tions. Some of the colleges are very rich and some are 
very poor. 

Adult students from the United States object very seri- 
ously to the close hours that students are required to keep. 
In the first place, they are required to be in their quarters 
at 9 o'clock in the evening. If they come in after 9 o'clock 
they are fined twopence ; if they come in after 10 they 
are fined a shilling; if they come in after 11 they are 
fined half a crown; if after 12 they are obliged to pay a 
pound, and three appearances after midnight subject a 
student to expulsion. The students are required to live 
during the first year or two at Oxford in the college build- 
ing. It is only in the second year or in the latter part of 
their course that they can obtain permission to live in 
lodgings. People who lodge students can only take them 
after permission is given by the faculty of the college 
where the student is enrolled, and only after the lodging- 
house keeper has agreed to make reports daily upon the 
character and conduct of the student lodger. As a matter 
of fact, the lodging-house keepers rarely, if ever, make 
reports against the students. This is pretty generally 
understood by the college authorities, and they never per- 
mit students to lodge outside when their conduct has been 
at all questionable during their preliminary course of 
study. 

Students' quarters in the various colleges consist of a 
sitting-room and a bed-room. The sitting-room is also 
used as a dining-room. The rooms are cared for by a 
male servant, called a scout. He also serves the meals. 
The students breakfast and lunch in their rooms ; they 
dine in the commons. I visited a number of the dining 



1 88 ENGLISH LIFE. 

halls of the various colleges. They are very handsome, 
and are fitted up very much like the dining-rooms of the 
various inns of court in London. The walls are all in 
dark "woods, with portraits and the coat-of-arms of the 
various colleges and patrons ornamenting them. The 
ceilings are in dark wood. The tables for the students 
run lengthwise with the room. At the end of the room, 
and at right angles with the students' tables, upon a plat- 
form raised a foot and a half above the floor, is the table for 
the dons of that particular college. This is similar to the 
relative placing of the tables of the barristers and the 
benchers in the Inns of Court dining-rooms. A blazing 
open fire lights up cheerfully this rich and handsome 
framework of dark wood and ancient ornaments. The 
dons put on full dress for their dinner, 'and the students 
wear their mortar-board caps and black gowns. These 
gowns and caps have to be worn by the students when- 
ever they enter any of the buildings of any of the colleges. 
Often a student walking in the street will take off his loose 
gown and carry it over his arm, but the moment he enters 
any of the college buildings he must put it on, or he would 
be refused admission. 

The country around Oxford is beautiful. The town 
itself is quaint and most picturesque. The life here is one 
that would charm either a student or a young man fond 
of society and athletics. The river is constantly thronged 
by college oarsmen. When the racing season is on, I am 
told, one of the most exciting events of each day is the 
struggle to gain the position known as "the top of the 
river." As it was explained to me, the top of the river 
means this : Several boat crews — sometimes to the num- 
ber of fifteen or twenty — will be placed in line, one 
slightly ahead of the other, upon the river. At a signal 
they start off racing for a certain point. The object of 
each boat's crew in the rear is to run down the boat 
ahead of them. This is called bumping. If they can 
bump the nose of their boat against the one just ahead of 
them, that entitles the bumping boat to go up above the 
boat that has been bumped. And the boat bumped falls 
back one in the line. The boat that obtains the position 
of the top of the river is the one which is able to distance 
all competitors and to draw away from them in this most 
exciting of struggles. Very often the boat crew bumped 



ENGLISH LIFE. ^9 

is turned clear over and has to pick its way out as best it 
can. But this only appears to add fun and hilarity to the 
race. 

Until very recently none of the Dons were permitted 
to marry. Now a certain number of them can marry. 
They tell a pathetic story concerning one of the Dons 
who has been engaged to be married for several years, 
but he cannot be married until the present number of 
married Dons is diminished by one or one becomes a 
widower. One can imagine the thoughts of this forlorn 
Don and his patient sweetheart as they wait in the quiet 
atmosphere of Oxford for some one of the Dons of that 
particular college to give way for their long-expected hap- 
piness. There is quite a community at Oxford of middle- 
aged and venerable students, who live here and who re- 
tain their membership in the college on account of the 
advantages of the Bodleian Library. For when you have 
once been graduated from any one of these colleges you 
can, by paying a small fee each year, retain your mem- 
bership in that college all your life. A number of noted 
writers and students make their homes here and are often 
seen in cap and gown hard at work in some one of the 
beautiful rooms of this most richly endowed and equipped 
library. Here it would seem that a student could accom- 
plish the very greatest possible amount of work. The 
village is quiet, peaceful and beautiful. Life here is very 
pleasant, the society is agreeable and London is only an 
hour and a quarter away. 



6$ 7 



